


Adrift

by fangirl_250_501



Series: Adrift Series [1]
Category: Lost
Genre: Canon-Typical Behavior, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, F/M, Lost (TV) Season 1, Lost (TV) Spoilers, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:14:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 26,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26393218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_250_501/pseuds/fangirl_250_501
Summary: Lena Hale Ashford is a survivor of Oceanic flight 815. Now, on the island, she must learn to live in this strange new place with all of the other survivors. And at first, she thinks she'll just be on a normal island for a few days until they are rescued. But rescue is not coming any time soon. And this island? It's not what it seems.
Relationships: Sayid Jarrah/Original Character(s), Sayid Jarrah/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Adrift Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2001361
Comments: 50
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to my LOST fanfiction! Thank you for choosing to read this story, I hope you won't regret it.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own LOST or any of its characters, settings, or plots. All rights go to Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, JJ Abrams, and the other creators of LOST.
> 
> Here's how everything is going to work: Each season will get its own book, although later seasons might share one because they are so short. Updates are every Friday, but that schedule is subject to change.
> 
> Alright, enough of me talking. I hope you enjoy reading Lena's story as much as I enjoyed writing it, And now, without further ado, I present to you: Adrift

Lena opened her eyes and was greeted by a blindingly clear blue sky. 

It all came rushing back to her. The airport, the plane, the turbulence. And, apparently, the crash. 

She stood up slowly and checked for injuries. Besides a few cuts and bruises, she seemed to be fine. 

Lena glanced around, taking in her surroundings. She was on a beach, which was in complete chaos. The remains of the plane she had been on were scattered across the ground, and people were running around, panicked. 

“Help! Someone help me!” 

Lena whirled around towards the voice that cried for help, but she couldn’t see who needed the most help out of everyone. 

“Please help! My leg!”

This time, Lena found the source of the voice, a man with his leg trapped under a very large piece of metal. A few people were already over there, but there efforts didn’t seem to be enough.

Lena ran over and grabbed one end of the metal piece. She grunted in efforts as she and the others managed to lift it away.

The man’s leg was extremely bloody, and one guy puked at the sight of it. But blood didn’t bother Lena. Not anymore.

A dark-haired man in a suit knelt down next to the guy and used his tie to make a tourniquet. Lena guessed that he was a doctor, and she was relieved that there was at least one doctor here.

There were more screams, and Lena saw a blond girl standing dangerously close to the still-spinning engine.

“Hey!” Lena shouted. “You need to move!” The girl looked at her wide-eyed, and in that moment, Lena really wished she had better people skills. 

“I know everything is really scary and crazy, but you need to get away from that engine, alright?” Lena said in a gentler voice. The blond girl nodded and ran off towards the other end of the beach without a word.

Lena surveyed the beach again. Most people seemed to have the good sense to get away from the wreckage, and the injured ones were being helped. 

“Well.” Lena muttered to herself. “That was certainly an interesting flight.”

…

_“Would you like anything to drink?”_

_Lena was abruptly pulled from her thoughts as the flight attendant stopped next to her seat with the drink cart._

_“Just some water, please.” Lena said. She was not at all in the mood for alcohol. The flight attendant poured the water into a small cup and handed it to Lena, who drank it all in one sip._

_Suddenly, the plane shook slightly, and Lena nearly jumped in her seat. But the turbulence only lasted for a moment, and she quickly calmed down. Lena was always on edge. She had to be, in her line of work. But she had hoped that she would be able to relax on the plane._

_No such luck._

_The plane shook again, and Lena gripped the armrest of her seat tightly. She hated flying, but that was the only way to get from Australia to Los Angeles._

_“Ladies and gentleman, the pilot has switched on the ‘fasten seatbelt’ sign. Please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts.” Said a voice that echoed throughout the plane. Lena set down her drink and quickly bucked her seatbelt as the shaking continued._

_Then it got even worse. There were screams coming from all around. Luggage fell out of the overhead compartments and flew around the lurching plane._

_Oxygen masks fell from the ceiling, and Lena put hers on, panicked. She breathed deeply as she shielded herself from falling bags. The plane was falling, spinning out of control, and Lena was trapped in it._

_Lena felt something hit the back of her head, and she groaned, seeing spots dancing before her eyes._

_“Oh sh-“ But she didn’t get to finish that sentence, as her eyes closed and everything went dark._

…

Lena pulled the hair tie from her wrist, grateful for her habit of always having one on her. She pulled her dark red-brown hair back into a ponytail and tightened it so that her hair wouldn’t get in the way.

“Alright, Lena, focus.” She muttered to herself. “You just have to survive until they come rescue us.” And hopefully, someone would come rescue them soon. 

A few people had started to build a fire, so Lena made her way to the jungle that was behind the beach to collect wood. 

Lena picked up some wood that would be good for a fire. At least, she thought they would be good for a fire. She honestly had no idea. 

After picking up a few armfuls of firewood, she made her way back to the beach. The fire was going, but it certainly wasn’t big enough for a plane to see.

“Here.” Lena said, dumping the firewood she had collected on the ground. The man that was adding wood to the fire looked up. He had dark olive skin and curly hair that was cut just above his shoulders. 

“Thank you.” He said in an accent she couldn't quite place. Lena nodded and started to walk away when he called out to her.

“Wait!” He said. “What’s your name.”

“I’m Lena.” She said. “What about you?”

“My name is Sayid.” He said. “Do you think you could help me with the fire?” Lena nodded and jogged back over to him. She picked up some of the wood from her pile and started putting it in the fire. As she did so, the flames rose higher and higher, and with it, her hopes got higher as well. 

She glanced over at Sayid as they both worked on the fire. She wanted to start a conversation, but she wasn’t exactly sure what to say in that situation. And what could she possibly say? Wow, what a great plane crash?

“You think they would have come by now.” Sayid said, breaking the very awkward silence.

“Who?”

“Anyone.” Sayid replied. And just like that, Lena’s hopes went plummeting down. Their chances of rescue were getting less and less with each passing minute.

“You never know.” Lena said. “Maybe the people coming to rescue us landed far from here and they’re looking for us right now.”

“I admire your optimism, but that isn’t very likely.” Sayid sighed.

“Well, aren’t you a ray of sunshine.” Lena muttered sarcastically. Sayid raised his eyebrows slightly, and Lena held back a laugh. 

Suddenly, there was a loud screeching noise coming from the jungle. It was unlike anything Lena had ever heard, eerie and deafening. 

“Is that Vincent?” The kid, Walt, asked. Lena didn’t know who Vincent was, but she was pretty sure that they didn’t make that noise.

“It’s not Vincent.” Replied Michael, his father.

There was a loud crack, and trees started to fall, smashing to the ground. Whatever made that noise seemed to be causing it. It wasn’t like anything she had ever seen before. There was some kind of monster in the jungle.

“What the hell?” Lena muttered.

“Did anyone else see that?” The pregnant woman, who Lena was pretty sure was named Clare, asked. In the jungle, more trees were falling, but the noise was fading out.

“Terrific.” Charlie, the British guy, said, voicing everybody’s thoughts. 

What the hell was this island?


	2. Chapter 2

“It didn’t sound like an animal.” Michael said. “Not exactly, I mean.” It was the next morning, and everyone seemed to have some kind of theory about what happened last night. Everyone, it seemed, except for Lena, who was just very confused.

“That noise it made sounded… familiar.” Said a woman named Rose. 

“Really?” Shannon, the blond girl who had been screaming, asked. “Where are you from.”

“The Bronx.” Rose answered. Lena had only been to the Bronx a few times, but she was pretty sure nothing like that lived there.

“Might be monkeys.” Charlie piped up. “It’s monkeys, right?”

“You think monkeys made that sound?” Lena asked skeptically. She had never actually seen or heard a monkey in person, but she was pretty sure monkeys couldn’t do that.

“Yeah, it’s Monkey Island.” Said a voice sarcastically. Lena glanced over her shoulder to see Sawyer, the extremely annoying yet attractive guy standing behind her.

“Technically, you know, we don’t even know if we’re on an island.” Said Hurley, a rather large curly haired guy. She hoped that it wasn’t, because then there might be a way back to civilization. Unfortunately, she was pretty sure that it was.

“We’re on an island.” Sayid said tersely, ending that theory. The certainty of his tone made Lena inclined to believe him, but she tell held out a bit of hope

“Well, whatever it was… it wasn’t natural.” Michael said. _No shit, Sherlock_. Something that lives on a tropical island and uproots trees by the mass wasn’t exactly natural. 

“So… I was just looking inside the fuselage.” Hurley interjected, completely changing the subject. “It’s pretty grim in there. You think we should do something about the… b-o-d-y-s.” He glanced at Walt at the last part, probably not wanting to mention death in front of him. 

“What are you trying to spell?” Lena asked, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion at his misspelling. “Bodies?”

“B-o-d-i-e-s.” Walt corrected. Lena chuckled at Hurley’s shocked expression that a kid was a better speller than him.

“That sounds like a good idea.” Sayid said in response to Hurley’s suggestion of doing something with the dead people. Even if she didn’t know them, it still made Lena uncomfortable to think about the ones who didn’t survive the crash. 

“No!” Shannon exclaimed. “They’ll deal with it when they get here.” Lena was about to say something about the rescue people possibly not coming for a while when Jack, the doctor, walked up behind the group along with a woman named Kate.

“We’re gonna go out and look for the cockpit.” Jack explained. “See if we can find a transceiver to send a distress signal, help out the rescue team. If the guy with the shrapnel in his stomach wakes up, keep him calm, but don’t let him remove the shrapnel.” Lena nodded, although she wasn’t sure who he was directing his instructions to.

“I’ll come with you.” Charlie said as he stood up and dusted sand off his legs. But Jack and Kate had already started to walk off, and he ran to catch up with them, sand flying behind his feet. 

And the rest of the survivors? They were going to wait.

…

“Hey, um, Lena, right?”

It was Hurley, holding a bunch of airplane food.

“Yeah, that’s my name.” Lena said.  
“Uh, I was just handing out food…” Hurley trailed off awkwardly. “Do you wants some?”

“Yeah, thank you!” Lena exclaimed. She had been hungry all night, but since she thought there was no food, she didn’t mention it. And she didn’t exactly want to go looking for it in the dark, especially with that monster thing on the island.

Hurley handed her a package of very oddly shaped chicken, but Lena wasn’t going to be picky.

“Thanks, Hurley.” Lena said. He smiled a little and then walked over to Claire to give her some food. 

Lena must have been even hungrier than she thought, because she devoured the chicken in just a few minutes. It probably wasn’t healthy to eat that fast, but in that moment, Lena didn’t really care. 

Just as she finished the food, she heard loud shouting coming from a few feet away. She dropped the tray and ran across the beach to see Sayid and Sawyer in a very heated fight.

“Whoa!” Lena exclaimed, as she ran up to them to try and break up the fight. Micheal helped her, and they managed to pull the two men away. Sayid was strong, but she managed to hold him back.

“Break it up!” Shouted Jack, who had apparently just gotten back from his trip to the cockpit. Hopefully he hadn’t found something. Meanwhile, Sayid and Sawyer were still trying to attack each other, but the others managed to keep them apart.

“Son of a bitch!” Sawyer shouted.

“I’m sick of this redneck!” Sayid yelled back. Lena could have made a sarcastic remark, but she held it back. Secretly, she was happy that someone finally snapped and punched Sawyer. 

“You want to fight?!” Sawyer exclaimed. “I’ll kick your ass!” Somehow, being stopped from fighting each other made them even angrier.

“Tell everyone what you told me!” Sayid seethed. “Tell them that I crashed the plane! Go on! Tell them I made the plane crash!”

“If the shoe fits buddy!” Sawyer replied.

“Seriously, Sawyer?” Lena said incredulously. He was such a little piece of-

“What is going on?” Jack asked. Lena shook her head in confusion. She was as in the dark as him. “WHAT IS GOING ON?” Jack repeated his question louder, stopping most of the side conversations.

“Look.” Michael said, pulling out a pair of handcuffs. “My son found these in the jungle.” Questions made their way to the forefront of Lena’s mind. Why the hell were there handcuffs on the plane?

“And this guy was sitting in the back row of business class, the whole flight, never got up.” Sawyer added. “Hands folded underneath a blanket. And, for some reason - just pointing this out - the guy sitting next to him didn’t make it.”

“You have got to be kidding me.” Lena muttered. “That proves absolutely nothing, Sawyer. The guy next to Hurley didn’t make it, are you going to accuse him of something?” She quickly glanced at Hurley apologetically for using him as an example, and he just gave a thumbs up to say that it was okay.

“I saw them pull him out of line before we boarded!” Sawyer argued. At this, Sayid tried to attack Sawyer again, but Jack managed to pull him back. Honestly, Lena couldn’t blame him.

“Stop!” Kate shouted, louder than everyone else. “We found the transceiver, but it’s not working. Can anybody help?”

“Yes, I might be able to.” Sayid answered, still glaring at Sawyer. 

“Oh great.” Sawyer said sarcastically. “Perfect! Let’s trust this guy!”

“Well, I don’t know about everyone else, but I trust him way more than I trust you.” Lena retorted. She was starting to hate Sawyer more and more with every word he said. 

“We’re all in this together guys, let’s treat each other with a little respect.” Hurley interjected. Sawyer started to say something rude, but Jack interrupted him.

“Give it a break, will you?” Jack said tiredly. 

“Whatever you say, doc.” Sawyer replied. “You’re the hero.” 

“Are you sure I can’t punch him?” Lena whispered to Jack, who shook his head with a slight smirk. 

“It’s a dual band, military spec.” Sayid said, studying the transceiver. Lena didn’t understand a word he was saying, but she listened anyways. “Chances are, the battery is good, but the radio is dead.”

“Can you fix it?” Kate asked.

“I need some time.” Sayid replied.

“Doctor!” Rose shouted, running over to the group. “The man with the shrapnel… you should take a look at him.” Jack sighed and walked off towards the tent where the injured man was. Sayid took the transceiver and walked to another spot on the beach, taking the time to glare at Sawyer as he went. 

And Lena? She still wanted to punch Sawyer, but she refrained, not wanting to cause another fight. All she could do now was wait. Again.


	3. Chapter 3

“So, how’s the transceiver coming along?” Lena asked as she walked over to Sayid. He had been working on it for at least an hour, and duding by the look on his face, he still had some ways to go.

“It’s working, but there’s no signal.” Sayid sighed, setting down the transceiver. “Without one, we can’t send out a message.” 

“I guess we’ll have to figure out how to get a signal.” Lena said. She sat down on the warm sand and gazed out towards the ocean. 

“Thank you, by the way.” Sayid said. “For defending me against Sawyer.”

“No problem.” Lena replied. “That asshole had it coming, anyways.” 

“That is very true.” Sayid said, laughing a little. 

“Is it working?” Asked a voice from behind them. It was Kate, who had somehow managed to find a change of clothes. 

“Seems to be.” Sayid answered. “Except we’re not picking up a signal.”

“Why do we need to pick up a signal?” Kate questioned. “Aren’t we trying to send one?”

“Yes, but we need bars that show radio reception.” Sayid explained, pointing to a blank spot on the transceiver. “We could try to broadcast blind, but that would waste the battery, and it probably wouldn’t last very long.”

“Well, is there anything else we could try?” Lena asked. 

“We could see if we can get a signal from the higher ground.” Sayid said, looking up at the mountain. It was steep, very steep. Lena thought that maybe she would be able to get up there, but there was a good change that she would fall and die.

“You want to go all the way up there?”

“It might be the only way to get a signal.” said Sayid. Lena sighed, but she knew it was their best option.

“Alright.” She said. “I’ll go with you.”

“So will I.” Kate offered. “I’m going to tell Jack what we’re doing first.”

“Sounds good.” Sayid nodded. “We’ll leave in ten minutes.”

…

Ten minutes later, they were ready to leave, and they were about to go into the jungle when Shannon stepped in front of them, followed by her brother, Boone.

“I’d like to come with you.” Shannon said.

“She’s not going.” Boone interjected. “She doesn’t want to go.” The two siblings continued to bicker furiously, reminding Lena of her and Marie, her younger sister, which just made Lena feel sad. Luckily, Kate interjected, saying that Shannon going was probably not the best idea, which Lena agreed with. 

“Oh come on.” Shannon said. “You’re going, aren’t you?” She asked to someone behind them. Lena turned to see Charlie, who had also volunteered for this mission.

“Yeah, are you?” Charlie asked skeptically. 

“Yes.”

“Look anyone can come.” Lena concluded. “But we’re leaving right now.” Sayid let out a long sigh, but continued to lead the now considerably bigger group towards the jungle.

They walked in silence for a few minutes until they heard footsteps behind them. Lena turned around to see, much to her surprise and annoyance, Sawyer.

“You decided to join us?” Kate asked.

“I’m a complex guy, sweetheart.” Sawyer replied with his trademark smirk. Lena rolled her eyes, and the group kept walking.

Eventually, they reached a large cliff that towered over them and the rest of the island. Shannon and Boone started arguing about Shannon’s ability to climb it, but Lena just tuned them out. 

“I guess we’re climbing.” Lena said. Sayid went first, using the jutting out rocks as hand and footholds, and using hanging vines to pull himself up. Lena followed, trying to stay on Sayid’s trail. They reached the top with no incident, and once everyone was up, they kept going.

“Alright, wide open space!” Sawyer exclaimed. “You should check the radio.”

“We’re not going to have any reception here.” Sayid explained in an annoyed tone. “And I don’t want to waste the batteries.”

“Just try it, I’m not asking you to keep it on all god damn day.” Sawyer retorted. Sayid turned around, about to try and talk some sense into the stubborn man. 

“If I-“ but Sayid didn’t get to finish his sentence ,as a low animal growl came from the nearby bushes. There was a loud rusting as something quickly made its way towards them. 

“What the hell is that?” Boone asked.   
“Whatever it is, it’s coming right for us!” Charlie said in a panicked voice. He started backing up very slowly, as if he thought it would go away. 

“Guys, I think we should run.” Lena said. “Like, now.” She, for one, didn’t have to be told twice. She took off in the other direction, and the sound of footsteps told her that everyone else was following. 

She glanced over her shoulder to make sure everyone was alright and saw that Sawyer hadn’t moved one inch.

A bear burst out of the bushes, right at Sawyer. But instead of running, he pulled out a gun. 

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! He fired the gun multiple times, and the bear slowed to a stop, dying at his feet.

Lena stopped running and turned around. The bear was dirty and bloody, and Sawyer was standing over it proudly, like a cat who had just caught a mouse. 

“That’s a big bear.” Shannon muttered fearfully.

“Do you think that’s what killed the pilot?” Boone asked.

“No way.” Charlie answered. “This is a teeny tiny version compared to that.” Oh, well that’s just wonderful. 

“Uh… guys.” Kate said as she studied the bear. “This isn’t just a bear. That’s a polar bear.” 

“What?!” Lena exclaimed. She walked over to the now-dead bear to get a closer look. Sure enough, beneath the dirt, leaves, and blood was the white fur of a polar bear.

“That can’t be a polar bear.” Boone said.

“It’s a polar bear.” Sayid and Lena replied at the same time. She didn’t know how, but a polar bear was on the island. The tropical island.

“Yeah, but polar bears don’t usually live in the jungle.” Shannon observed.

“Spot on.” Charlie muttered sarcastically.

“Well, this one does.” Said Boone, ignoring Charlie.

“Did.” Sawyer corrected. “It did.” That brought Lena’s attention back to him. He was still holding the gun, which was not comforting at all. She would have trusted literally anyone else on the island with it before trusting it with him.

“Where did that come from?” Lena asked.

“Probably Bear Village.” Sawyer answered, thinking that Lena was talking about the polar bear. “How the hell do I know?”

“Not the bear.” Kate said, exasperated. “The gun.”

“I got if off one of the bodies.”

“One of the bodies?” Sayid asked skeptically. He was right. It wasn’t very likely that Sawyer was just taking a walk through the fuselage full of corpses and just so happened to see one of them holding a gun.

“Yeah, People don’t carry guns on planes.” Shannon pointed out. That was true for most cases, at least. However, the odds of someone having one were very, very low. 

“They do if they’re a US Marshal, sweet cheeks.” Sawyer replied. “There was one on the plane.” 

“And how exactly do you know that?” Kate asked. 

“I saw the guy lying there with an ankle holster, so I took the gun.” Sawyer explained. “I thought it might come in handy. And guess what? I just shot a bear!” In a way, he was also right. Without that gun, the bear probably would have injured or even killed at least one of them.

“Why do you think he’s a Marshal?” Lena asked. “I don’t think they go walking around wearing signs.” Of course, an image popped into her head of a random guy wearing a sign on his back that said ‘I’m a US Marshal!’ Lena then cursed her weird brain

“Because he had a clip-on badge. I took that too, thought it looked cool.” Sawyer said, holding up the Marshal’s badge. It glinted in the sunlight, and Lena had to admit, it did look pretty cool. 

“I know who you are.” Sayid said, looking very smug. “You’re the prisoner.” 

“I’m the what?” 

“You’re a wizard, Sawyer.” Lena muttered. Everyone stopped and looked at her with very confused expressions.

“Oh come on, none of you have read Harry Potter?” Lena asked. “Whatever. Sayid, continue.” Though in her mind, she mentally high-fived herself for the reference. 

“You found a gun on the US Marshal.” Sayid said. “You knew where it was because you were the one he was bringing back to the States. Those handcuffs were on you, and that’s how you knew there was a gun.” 

“Oh piss off.” Sawyer retorted. But Sayid did have a pretty good point, and Lena was sure that Sawyer knew that as well. 

“That’s who you are, you son of a bitch!”

“Fine!” Sawyer exclaimed. “I’m the criminal, you’re the terrorist. We can all play a part.” As Sawyer whirled around, Kate pulled the gun away and pointed it directly at Sawyer.

Damn, Kate, Lena thought.

“Does anybody know how to use a gun?” Kate asked. Lena did, but she was hoping someone else in the group did as well. She didn’t exactly want to explain why she knew how to use a gun. That would lead into a very long conversation that would probably end with all of them wanting to get as far away from her as possible. 

“I think you just pull the trigger.” Charlie said in response to Kate.

“Don’t use the gun.” Sayid said hurriedly.   
“I want to take it apart.” Kate explained. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to shoot anyone.” Lena quietly sighed in relief. Even though he was an absolute pain in the ass, she didn’t want Sawyer to get shot. And if Kate didn’t know how to use a gun but tried to, she could end up shooting one of the nicer people in the group, or accidentally shoot Lena. 

“There’s a button on the grip.” Sayid explained. “Push that, it will eject the magazine.” Kate did so, and the magazine fell out, which she scrambled to pick up. Then, she gave the empty gun to Sawyer and the magazine to Sayid.

“Come on.” Kate said. “Let’s keep going.”

…

They had been walking for at least a few hours, and they reached a large, grassy, open area that was on the mountain Sayid had pointed to earlier. He seemed to realize this, so he pulled out the transceiver and began to turn it on.

“Oh, so now’s a good time to check the radio?” Sawyer asked. “Not before, but now?!” Because apparently, Sawyer couldn’t tell the difference between ‘in the thick jungle’ and ‘higher up on a clear plateau.’

“We’re up higher.” Sayid muttered dismissively, not even looking at Sawyer. He filled with the controls, and the screen lit up. Sayid’s eyes lit up in delight as he saw this, so Lena guessed that it was a good thing. “Bar! We’ve got a bar!” He then spoke into the transceiver: “Mayday, mayday!” But all they heard was static.

“What is that?” Kate asked. 

“Feedback.” Sayid replied, turning with the controls.”I don’t know what it’s from, but we’re getting it.” 

“I’ll tell you what it’s from.” Sawyer said. “The guy not fixing the radio. This thing doesn’t even work.” Couldn’t that guy just shut up for one minute?

“No, it’s not broken.” Sayid said. “We can’t transmit because something else is already transmitting.”

“From where?”

“Somewhere close.” Said said. “The signal is strong.”

“Close?” Charlie asked. “You mean on the island? That’s great!” Maybe a rescue team was coming, or already here, and they were trying to find them. A sliver of hope flashed through Lena’s mind. Maybe they were going to be saved sooner than she thought. 

“Maybe it’s other survivors.” Boone suggested. “What kind of transmission is it?”

“Maybe a sat phone, or a radio signal..” Sayid trailed off, still working on the radio. “We can listen to it, but I need to get the frequency.” There was more static, but then a female voice filled the air, speaking a different language.

“It’s French!” Charlie exclaimed. “The French are coming! I’ve never been so happy to hear the French!”

“What is she saying? Does anybody here speak French?” Lena asked. She certainly didn’t. Sometimes, she barely even spoke English.”

“She does.” Boone said, pointing to his sister. Shannon gaped at him, shocked. 

“No, I don’t.” She snapped.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Boone asked. “You spent a year in Paris!”

“Drinking, not studying.” She retorted.

“Iteration 7294531.” Said a deep male voice coming from the radio. Then the French woman’s voice came back, repeating the same message. Sayid muttered ’no’ multiple times in a panicked voice, which didn’t sound good.

“‘No, no, no’ what?” Lena asked, confused by his frantic behavior. 

“The batteries are dying!” Sayid exclaimed as Lena peeked over his shoulder to see what was happening. “We don’t have much time.” Meanwhile, Shannon and Boone were still arguing about Shannon’s ability to speak French

“Iteration 7294532.” There was that weird voice again, repeating a long string of numbers. And then the woman’s voice came again, saying the same thing she said before. 

“Look, do you speak French?” Lena asked Shannon. “Because that would be very helpful.”

“Come on!” Boone shouted. Sayid handed Shannon the transceiver, and she held it to her ear, listening to the transmission.

“It’s repeating.” Shannon said in between deep breaths. She looked more focused than Lena had ever seen, listening closely to the French woman’s words.

“She’s right.” Sayid deduced. “It’s a loop. ‘Iteration.’ It’s repeating the same message. It’s a counter. The next number will end ‘533.’”

“Iteration 7294533.” Sayid was right. The French message had played 7294533 times, and it was still going. Lena was terrible at math, but she could tell that was a long time.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Sawyer asked. His I-know-everything attitude was gone, replace by sheer confusion.

“It’s a running count of the number of times the message has repeated.” Sayid explained. “It’s roughly thirty seconds long… so how long has it…” He trailed off, mentally doing the math.Shannon, meanwhile listened closely as the transmission began to repeat again, concentrating on translating it.

“She’s saying….” Shannon began. “‘Please. Please help me. Please come get me.’”

“Do you even speak French?” Sawyer asked. Lena and Kate both told him to shut up at the same time. 

“Iteration 7294534.”

“‘I’m alone now.’” Shannon continued. “‘On the island alone. Please, someone come. The others, they’re dead. It killed them. It killed them all.’” Shannon trembled, horrified at the words she was saying, the words that had been repeating for-

“Sixteen years.” Sayid said. “Sixteen years and five months. That’s how long the message has been playing over and over. Sixteen years.” 

“Someone else was stranded here?” Boone asked. “And then someone came for them. 

“Then why is it still playing?” Lena pointed out. No one seemed to have the answer to that question. They started at the tiny little transceiver, repeating the words over and over and over again.

“Guys.” Charlie said. “Where are we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! First of all, thanks for reading this chapter and all the ones that came before it. 
> 
> Secondly, I need some suggestions for some “Sawyer Nicknames” for Lena. Sawyer calls everyone various nicknames, but I’m having trouble coming up with some for her. So, please comment any nicknames that you think would be good. Thanks!


	4. Chapter 4

The words from the French woman’s message were playing over and over in Lena’s head. The woman had been on the island for sixteen years, maybe even longer. And that was extremely unsettling. 

“It’s getting dark.” Boone commented as they walked back to the beach after their failed attempt to send a message.

“Then pick up the pace.” Sawyer retorted. Boone muttered something under his breath, but didn’t elaborate.

“Says the guy walking the slowest.” Lena said, rolling her eyes. Sawyer glared, and she just smiled.

“We should make camp.” Sayid decided. Shannon protested that, not wanting to stay in the middle of the jungle, but Sayid’s decision was the one they were going with. 

“I’m not stopping.” Sawyer said, once again proving his idiocy. “You all have a nice cookout.”

“Excellent idea, walk through the jungle in the dark.” Sayid replied sarcastically. 

“Ooh, afraid the trees are going to get us?” 

“No, what’s knocking down the trees will get you.” Sayid said, looking extremely annoyed. He seemed one hundred percent done with Sawyer. Then again, so was everyone else.

“Well, if you’re so worried about me, how about giving me the clip back?” Sawyer said pulling out the empty gun.

“Put the gun back in your pants Sawyer.” Kate sighed. “Sayid’s right, if you keep walking you’re not going to make it back to the beach.”

“Which, now that I think about it, isn’t a bad idea.” Lena commented. And then, under Sawyer’s hateful glare: “I’m just kidding, relax.” 

They got to work, building a fire and setting up sleeping areas. While they did this, Kate and Charlie explained what happened at the cockpit, how they lost communications and went off course. 

Once everything was set up, Sayid started to explain exactly how they crashed.

“This.” Sayid said, pointing to a rock. “Is Australia. This is us.” He used a torch to point to the other rock, which was considerably smaller.

“Nice stick.” Sawyer commented. 

“Two days ago, we take off from Sydney.” Sayid continued, completely ignoring Sawyer. Lena started to think. Had it really been just two days since the plane crashed? It felt like a lifetime ago, when her biggest worry was, well, much less of a concern than what was happening now.

“The pilot said he lost communication with the ground correct?” Lena tuned back in to Sayid’s little explanation, hoping that she hadn’t missed much.

“Yeah, six hours in.” Kate answered. “He turned around and headed for Fiji.”

“So we changed course.” Sayid said. “Unfortunately, no one knows we changed course. The turbulence hit, and we know the rest.” Sayid put the torch out ominously, as if he was telling some kind of horror story. 

“The pilot said we were over a thousand miles off-course.” Kate whispered fearfully.

“Yeah, but they’ll find us!” Charlie exclaimed. “They have satellites in space that can take pictures of your license plate.”

“If only we were all wearing license plates.” Sayid replied dryly.

“Again, quite the ray of sunshine.” Lena muttered. 

“Basic photography.” Sayid explained. ”Point and shoots. Satellites can shoot but they must be told where to point.” Charlie muttered something under his breath and stared angrily at the ground,

“Alright, great puppet show, fantastic.” Sawyer interjected. “But we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere. How about we talk about that transmission? You know, the one where the French chick said ‘they’re all dead.’ And it’s been on a loop for… how long was it, Freckles?”

“Sixteen years.” Kate replied, not even looking up.

“Right, let’s talk about that.”

“We have to tell the others when we get back.” Boone said. 

“No one is telling them anything.” Sayid said. “To relay what we heard without fully understanding it will cause panic. If we tell them what we know, we’ll take away their hope. And hope is a very dangerous thing to lose.”

“So we lie.” Lena said. She, for one, was quite used to lying. She didn’t know about everyone else, but this would be easy for her. 

“For now, we should get some sleep.” Sayid said. 

Lena was happy to oblige, as she was rather exhausted. She hadn’t slept last night, as she was too freaked out by the plane crash and whatever was out there in the jungle. She found a comfortable position and closed her eyes, losing herself to the darkness of sleep.

…

_When Lena was 6 years old, her mother told her that they had to talk._

_Lena was immediately worried about what that could mean. She was very young, but still perceptive and smart. She knew when something was wrong._

_“Lena.” Her mother began. As she was speaking, Lena noticed the bags under her eyes. She was exhausted. “Your father… he left a few days ago, and he’s not coming back.”_

_“He’s dead?!” Lena exclaimed, tears threatening to pour from her dark blue eyes._

_“No!” Her mother said hurriedly. “But he has done some very bad things, and he is going to be gone for awhile.” Lena didn’t know what to do. Her father had always been around, always joking around and being fun. But he was gone?_

_And what about Lena’s sister? Marie was only two years old. Would she even remember her father?_

_Lena felt lost._

…

“What are you doing?”

Lena woke up at Sayid’s loud exclamation and was immediately on her feet. She surveyed the situation to see what was wrong and saw Boone holding both the gun and the magazine clip.

“Standing guard.” Boone said to Sayid. “You heard what is out there.” Why the hell had Boone, of all people, decided to take charge? Lena was sure that he didn’t even know how to use a gun.

“You took my gun off me?” Sawyer asked incredulously. 

“Please, you’ve never even held a gun.” Shannon sighed at Boone, rolling her eyes. “You don’t believe in them, or something like that.”

“Everyone calm down.” Sayid said. “Just give the gun back.”

“Yeah, give it to Al Jazeera, he’ll protect us.” Sawyer snarked.

“That’s a network.” Lena corrected, thwarting that nickname and earning yet another glare from Sawyer. If she had a nickel for every time that guy glared at someone, she would be able to buy a private plane to take her off this island.

“I’ll keep the gun!” Boone exclaimed.

“We should give it to her.” Shannon said, pointing at Kate. Kate, who hadn’t said anything once since they woke up, looked extremely shocked at Shannon’s suggestion, as if she didn’t trust herself with a gun. But, the more Lena thought about it, Kate was a logical choice.

“Yeah, Kate should hold the gun.” Charlie seconded. Boone reluctantly gave the gun to Kate, who hesitated for a fraction of a second before tucking it away.

…

They reached the beach later that day. As soon as they stepped onto the coarse sand, the other survivors came running over, eager to hear the news.

Sayid had decided earlier that he would explain everything, and lie to everyone about what really happened.

“As you all know.” Sayid began. “We hiked up the mountain in an attempt to help the rescue team locate us. Unfortunately, the transceiver failed to pick up a signal. We weren’t able to send out a call for help, but we’re not giving up.” Sayid then launched into an explanation about rationing food and water and having everyone contribute, but Lena tuned out. 

There was a loud scream from inside the tent. It was the man with the shrapnel, who Lena had learned was the US Marshal.

She saw Jack sigh and jog over to the tent. He was doing everything he could to save the man, but his efforts just didn’t seem to be enough.

…

Throughout the rest of the day and the start of the night, the Marshal was getting worse and worse. His screams and cries pierced through the night as the other survivors were helpless to do anything about it.

And then, all of a sudden, a single gunshot could be heard coming from the tent. Lena’s head jerked up in alarm as Sawyer walked out of the tent, holding the gun.

“What did you do?!” Jack shouted. Sawyer replied, quiet enough that Lena couldn’t hear.

And then they all heard it. The choking, gasping sounds coming from the tent. The Marshal was still alive.

Both Jack and Sawyer ran back into the tent. Lena and the other survivors could only watch as they walked out, one by one, the cries of the Marshal silenced forever.


	5. Chapter 5

The sound of loud rummaging coming from the fuselage woke Lena up immediately. Her fellow crash survivors were also rudely awakened by the growling and rummaging.

“What is that?” Lena asked groggily, sitting up and slowly making her way over to the remains of the plane.

“Someone’s in there.” Claire replied.

“Everyone in there is dead.” Sayid said.

“Sawyer.” Jack sighed. For the past few days, Sawyer had been taking supplies and other things from the plane and wreckage. He had also been taking things from the dead bodies, but Lena didn’t really want to get into that.

“Right behind you, jackass.” Sawyer said. Jack looked genuinely surprised.

Jack pulled out a flashlight and shed some light on the plane. Sawyer smirked and pulled out a bigger flashlight and shined it right into the fuselage.

They were met with the snarling face of an animal.

“Oh shit.” Lena muttered.

“Run!” Jack exclaimed. Lena bolted as the animal charged, running as far away as she could. The animal tore through the camp, knocking down people and objects alike. At some point, two other animals joined it, and all three of them ran into the jungle.

“What the bloody hell was that?!” Charlie shouted once he was sure everyone was alright.

“Boars.” 

Lena turned to see who had spoken. It was the bald man with a cut running down his face. He actually looked happy about the fact that the boars had invaded the camp. And, judging by the look on his face, he had a plan.

…

After the whole boar fiasco, they had to figure out what to do with the bodies, for that was certainly what attracted the animals to the fuselage.

“We have to get rid of the bodies somehow.” Lena said as Jack was stitching up a cut given to Charlie by the boars.

“What should we do?” Charlie asked. “Bury them? There’s a whole bunch in there.”

“More than twenty.” Sayid, who was also there, answered. “And digging graves will be difficult, especially without shovels.”

“We need to burn them.” Jack said quietly.

“They’re people!” Kate, who had been mostly silent thought the whole conversation, said. Lena had been thinking that as well. Burning them just didn’t seem right.

“I know they’re people, Kate.” Jack sighed. “But do you want them to get eaten by wild animals? Because that’s what will happen. Any bodies we bury are not going to stay buried for long. I know it seems harsh, but we can’t to honor them all. They’re gone and we’re not.”

“What you said may be true, but it’s nor right for us to decide how these people are laid to rest.” Sayid argued. “No regards for their wishes? Their religions?”

“We don’t have time to sort out everybody’s goal.”

“Really, last I heard we were positively made of time.” Charlie remarked. Lena cracked a small grin. She could appreciate Charlie’s sense of humor, as it was very similar to her own. 

“Look, I’m not happy about it either, but we crashed a thousand miles off course, and they’re looking for us in the wrong place.” Jack said. “Tomorrow morning, we need to turn that fuselage into a furnace. Wait until the sun goes down, and then start the fire.” With that, he exited the tent. And, as much as Lena hated it, she understood why they needed to burn the bodies. And, the fire would be so high and bright that someone might actually see it and come rescue them.   
…

When Lena heard the loud shouting, she simply sighed. Couldn’t these people not fight each other for one minute?!

She jogged over to the source of the noise, still extremely annoyed and saw Sawyer (no surprise there) in a heated brawl with Hurley. Lena wasn’t expecting the latter to get into a fight, but then again, Sawyer could probably make anyone turn to violence.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Of course, it was Jack.

“He’s hoarding the last of the peanuts!” Hurley accused, pointing at Sawyer. The last of them?

“From my own stash.” Sawyer argued.

“What about the rest of the food?” Jack asked, sounding just as exasperated as he looked.

“There is no more food, dude.” Hurley said sheepishly. “We kind of… at it all.”

“What?” Lena and a few other people exclaimed at the same time. How were they out of food? They had been rationing it… hadn’t they? 

Well, Lena thought. Apparently not.

“Okay, everyone calm down.” Sayid said. “We can still find food. There are plenty of things on this island we can use for sustenance.”

“Oh yeah?” Sawyer asked, sitting down on one of the discarded airplane seats. “And you exactly are we going to find this sustenance?”

There was a loud whooshing noise, and a knife sailed though the air, landing inches from Sawyer’s head.

Lena spun on her heels to see that the person who threw the knife was the bald man who had identified the boars earlier.

“We hunt.” He said simply to a shell-shocked Sawyer. Lena had to admit, it gave her a little bit of satisfaction to see Sawyer like that. But her satisfaction was overshadowed by her worry about whoever that guy was. 

“How did you get that knife on the plane?” Kate asked as Jack pulled it out of the seat.

“I checked it.”

“You either have very good aim, or very bad aim, Mr…” Jack trailed off as he handed the knife back. Lena, for one, hoped that it was a case of very good aim. Otherwise, this guy might be trying to kill them all. And even Sawyer didn’t deserve to be stabbed.

“Locke.” Michael piped up bitterly. “His name is Locke.”

“Alright, Mr. Locke.” Jack said. “What is it that we’re hunting?”

“We know there are wild boar on the island.” Locke began. “Razorbacks, by the look of them. The ones that came into the camp last night were piglets, 100, 150 pounds each. Which means that there's a mother nearby. A 250 pound rat, with scimitar-like tusks, and a surly disposition, who'd love nothing more than to eviscerate anything that comes near. Boar's usual mode of attack is to circle around and charge from behind so I figure it'll take at least three of us to distract her long enough for me to flank one of the piglets, pin it, and slit its throat.”

_What. The. Fuck?_

Lena gaped at him, even though she barely understood what he just said. How the hell did he know all this stuff?

“And you gave him his knife back?” Sawyer muttered to Jack. For once, Lena agreed with him.

“Do you have a better idea?” Jack replied.

“Better than you wandering into the magic forest to bag a hunk of ham with a tiny hunting knife?” Sawyer said. “Hell no, that’s the best idea I’ve ever heard.”

In response to this, Locke opened his case, which was full of all kinds of knives.

“What the actual hell?” Lena whispered. So many questions were spinning in her head at the moment, and she could barely comprehend them all.

“Who is this guy?” Hurley asked. 

…

Lena hadn’t been chosen to go hunting, but she took a knife anyways. She knew how to use it, and it couldn’t hurt to have one. No one seemed to mind it, anyways.

“What do you need with a knife?” A voice asked. It was Charlie, who had walked over to where Lena was sitting.

“Protection.” Lena replied with a shrug. “It’s won’t do much against that tree-uprooting monster, but it’ll be useful against boars. And people.” 

Charlie looked slightly disturbed at the mention of people, but he shook it off and continued.

“Do you know how to fish?” He asked. It seemed as though he came over to ask this very question, and had been nervously and awkwardly waiting for an opportunity. 

“Um… no.” Lena said. “Why do you need to fish?”

“Well, I, uh, told someone I could fish.” He explained. “But I can’t.”

“Sorry, but I’ve never been fishing.” Lena said. 

“Yeah, well, thanks anyways.” Charlie grumbled. “Have you ever heard of Drive Shaft?”

“Is that the ‘You All Everybody’ band?” Lena asked. Charlie nodded happily. “That song is so weirdly catchy.”

“Thank you.” Charlie said. “I’m the bass player. And I write the songs.” 

“Oh, that’s cool.” Lena commented. Charlie grinned and walked off to find someone who could fish, humming ‘You All Everybody’ merrily.

 _Great_ , Lena thought. _Now it’s stuck in my head._

…

Later that night, as the fuselage was burning, Claire held a memorial service for everyone who had died in the crash. 

The people who had gone hunting had managed to get a boar, and the survivors happily ate that for dinner. For the first time, everything seemed to be in order.

For one night, the island was at peace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I am officially making a new update schedule for Adrift. Now, not only will I be posting a new chapter every Friday, I will be posting one every Sunday as well. Thanks for reading, and remember, nickname suggestions are still very much needed.


	6. Chapter 6

Lena was getting seriously tired of waking up to the sound of screams and shouts. And yet there she was, waking up for that very reason, again.

“Hey!” She shouted to the nearest person, which happened to be Kate. “What’s happening?”

“I think someone’s drowning.” Kate replied breathlessly. Lena gasped quietly and ran towards the water where Jack was already swimming towards the drowning woman. 

_Of course it’s Jack_ , Lena thought. Who else would be so incredibly selfless, like a cliche movie protagonist. Honestly, sometimes it seemed like he was some sort of heroic robot. 

Then, to Lena’s surprise, Jack stopped in the middle of the water, still a ways away from the drowning woman. He dove under the water, and ended up coming up to the surface with someone else. 

As he swam back, Lena saw that the other person was Boone. He must have gone in to save the woman, but ended up getting caught by the current as well. I guess we have two selfless robots, Lena mentally added. 

As soon as Boone was safely on the beach, Jack went back for the woman. But her screams had stopped, and it was already too late.

…

“Lena! Hey, Lena!”

She turned around to see Kate walking towards her.

“Hey Kate.” Lena said. “What’s going on?”

“We have a problem.” Kate replied, sounding slightly panicked. “Well, multiple problems, actually. Someone stole the water, and Claire is sick, and I can’t find Jack, and-“

“Okay, Kate, calm down.” Lena said gently. “We’ll figure this out, one problem at a time.” Kate quickly took a minute to compose herself before speaking again.

“That’s what we’re trying to do.” She said. “I figured you should be part of the discussion.” Lena was both surprised and a little flattered that she was included in the little group of ‘leaders.’ But she supposed that’s what happens when you trek through the jungle to try and pick up a radio signal. 

She and Kate walked over to where Sayid and Locke were standing, both of them looking slightly impatient.

“Alright.” Sayid said. “What first?”

“Where is the doctor?” Locke asked.

“I don’t know.” Kate sighed. “No one can find him.”

“Is this the last of our water supply?” Lena asked, dreading the inevitable answer. Kate nodded uncomfortably.

“It was foolish, keeping it all in one place.” Sayid added.

“I can go into the jungle.” Kate offered. “I’ll try to find some fresh water.” The other three were skeptical at that idea, however. It didn’t seem like the best idea to split up now. 

“You can’t go in alone.” Lena said. “When the others figure out the water is gone, things are going to get ugly, and that’s putting it nicely. And when they find out someone stole it, it’s going to get even uglier.”

“Which is why they need you three here, especially with the doctor gone.” Locke chimed in. “Besides, I know where to look.” Lena was slightly skeptical, but she just shrugged, knowing that was the best decision.

“Sounds like a plan.” Kate said. Locke nodded and ran off, probably to get a few of his precious knives and then to go look for Jack.

Barely a few minutes had passed before Hurley came running up to the remaining three of them, looking tired and out of breath.

“Uh, the Chinese people have water.” He said breathlessly. Lena didn’t bother to correct him that they were Korean, and she ran towards them, along with Sayid and Kate.

The Korean couple did, indeed have water. Their names were Jin and Sun, or at least, that’s what Lena thought, since they didn’t speak English.

“Where did you get this?” Sayid asked Sun forcefully. “Where did you-“

“She can’t understand you.” Kate interrupted. Sun just looked at them fearfully.

“She understands me.” Sayid replied. “Did you steal this water?” Sun said something in Korean, which Lena didn’t understand. As she was in the middle of her sentence, her husband stormed over furiously and launched into a whole rant.

“Whoa, take it easy.” Lena said, putting her hands up in mock surrender. “We just want to talk. You had water. Who gave it to you?” She made a water motion with her hands that she hoped got her point across

Jin seemed to understand a little of what Lena was saying, because he stopped shouting and pointed at Sawyer.

 _You have got to be kidding me_ , Lena thought. But, then again, he was the most obvious suspect.

Kate, with a very annoyed expression on her face, started to walk over to him, but Sayid immediately stopped her, saying that Sawyer wouldn’t give up the water if she confronted him. Instead, they should wait and follow Sawyer to wherever his stash was.

…

Well, Sawyer didn’t have the water, putting them back at square one. Again.

“I don’t understand.” Kate was saying. “If Sawyer doesn’t have it, then who-“

“Aha!” Came a voice from the tent. Kate and Lena glanced at each other quickly before running to the tent, where Charlie and Michael were standing over Boone.

“Um… what’s going on?” Lena asked.

“Someone had to take responsibility for it!” Boone shouted. “It never would have lasted.” And then it clicked. Boone was the one who stole the water. Not such a selfless robot after all.

“Well, case solved.” Lena muttered as Sayid pushed his way forward. Boone continued to state his case and explain himself, but no one was having it. 

“Shut up, you bloody-“ Charlie started to say, but a new voice interrupted.

“Leave him alone!” It was Jack, finally back from his mysterious disappearance. Lena could already tell from his expression and the way he carried himself that he was about to give some kind of speech. 

“It’s been six days, and we’re still waiting!”

Yup. Speech. 

“Waiting for someone to come. But what if they don't? We have to stop waiting. We need to start figuring things out. A woman died this morning just going for a swim and he tried to save her, and now you're about to crucify him? We can't do this. Every man for himself is not going to work. It's time to start organizing. We need to figure out how we're going to survive here. Now, I found water. Fresh water, up in the valley. I'll take a group in at first light. If you don't wanna come then find another way to contribute. Last week most of us were strangers, but we're all here now. And god knows how long we're going to be here. But if we can't live together, we're going to die alone.” 

_Damn_ , Lena thought. _That was a pretty good speech._

…

Lena’s first thought was: _Seriously?!_

Her next thought, of course, was to pull Jin off of Michael. Because the Korean man, for no apparent reason, had attacked Michael while he was walking with Walt.

Lena pushed Jin away as he shoved Michael under the waves of the ocean. Jin stood up angrily, but before he could do anything, Sayid and Sawyer ran over, Sayid carrying the handcuffs from the plane.

Lena knew it was bad if Sayid and Sawyer were working together.

Sayid handcuffed Jin to the fuselage, using some kind of bar. Once he was sure Jin was secure, he turned to the shocked Sun.

“What happened?” 

Sun said something in Korean, but soon realized that no one understood her. She made some wild hand gestures, but even that didn’t convey her point.

“Okay, Michael, what happened.” Sayid asked.

“I don’t know, man!” Michael exclaimed. “I was just walking on the beach with my son, and all of a sudden, this dude attacked me! I didn’t do anything.” Jin muttered something in Korean.

“Surely there must be something you’re not telling us.” Sayid said. 

“Surely?” Michael echoed. “Look he attacked me. Maybe you should talk to him!” He pointed at Jin, who just glared.

“That’s a great idea, except for the fact that he doesn’t speak English.” Lena piped up, but no one seemed to be listening to her.

Sun shouted something, pointing to her watch. Probably something about the handcuffs.

“The cuffs stay on!” Sayid yelled.

“Maybe a little louder, then she’ll understand you.” Sawyer muttered.

“Dudes, he’s going to get pretty crispy out here.” Hurley said, looking from Jin to the scorching sun (the actual sun, not the person). “How long are you guys going to keep him tied up like that?”

“He tried to kill Michael.” Said Sayid. “We all saw it. The cuffs stay on until we know why?” Once the large crowd had dispersed, Lena spoke again.

“How are we going to figure out why if we can’t talk to them?” Lena asked. Sayid, for once, didn’t seem to have a solution.

“I don’t know.” He sighed, clearly hating the idea of having no plan. 

…

“Excuse me, Lena?”

It had been a few hours since the whole Jin incident, and there was still no explanation. So, Sayid approaching with water in hand was definitely a welcome sight.

“Oh my god!” Lena exclaimed, practically tearing the water bottle from Sayid’s hand. She gulped it down gleefully, feeling the fresh stream of water trickle down her throat.

Sayid laughed slightly at her eagerness with the water, and Lena playfully glared at him.

“I’m sure you did the same thing when you got water.” She said.

“Yes, well, that’s not the only reason why I’m here.” Sayid said, suddenly getting more serious. “Jack is taking some other people to go live in the caves, but some of us are staying here. Where will you go?”

“I… um… I don’t know?” Lena said, taken aback by his sudden question. “Can’t I have a little time to decide? You only just asked me.”

“Jack and the others are leaving soon, and I don’t doubt that he will ask you to come.” Sayid replied. “I’m sorry, but you need to chose.”

One one hand…. fresh water, a roof over her head. But if she left the beach, the small chance of rescue went even farther down. And, Sayid seemed kind of eager for her to stay. The fact that he specifically asked her, of all people, said a lot. 

And so, she made her decision. 

“I’m going to stay.”


	7. Chapter 7

“I think we have another chance at sending out a signal.” Sayid said. “Kate and I are going to the jungle to set up a system. Can you take care of everything here.”

“You’re leaving me in charge?” Lena asked, shocked. Sayid nodded. “Yeah, I think I can do that.”

“Thank you.” Sayid said. “We’ll be back soon!” Lena just smiled and nodded as Sayid walked off towards the jungle. 

“Well, I guess I’m in charge now.” Lena muttered.

…

“Hey!” Charlie shouted as he sprinted out of the jungle and onto the beach. “Hey, we need help!”

 _Of course this happens while I’m left in charge_ , Lena thought, but she brushed that aside and ran over to Charlie, with Michael and Boone not far behind.

“What’s wrong, man?” Michael asked.

“It’s Jack.” Charlie gasped. “A cave collapsed, he’s trapped. We don’t even know if he’s alive, come on, we have to go.” Lena’s eyes widened as Charlie explained. She had probably made the right decision, then, by staying at the beach.  
“Alright.” Lena said. “Michael, can you round up some people to help out?” Michael nodded and jogged off towards Scott. Or was it Steve? Lena couldn’t tell those two apart.

“Come on, we have to go now!” Charlie exclaimed. 

“Okay, okay, I’m coming.” Lena replied, and she made her way to the caves.

…

The scene at the caves was not good. There was a giant mountain of rocks, probably blocking Jack from escaping from the smaller cave. If he was alive.

Don’t be ridiculous, Lena chided herself. Of course he’s alive. 

“Whoa, wait!” Michael exclaimed, running up to the others.

“Jack’s in there.” Hurley explained quickly before moving another rock.

“Just let me check it out before you start moving everything.” Michael said. “If it’s unstable, the cave could collapse on all of us.”

“How do you know-“

“8 years of construction work.” Michael said. “Alright, this area is load-bearing. We need to dig where there’s no danger of the wall closing in on itself. Go in here, so nothing falls. Four at a time, and by hand, until we can find some kind of tunnel. Whoever isn’t digging should be cleaning out the rocks and finding other ways to make themselves useful. Okay?” Lena nodded, surprised my Michael’s knowledge of this. 

She and three others stepped into the area Michael said would be safe. She lifted a rock and handed it to Hurley, who passed it down the line. And she kept working until her turn was done.

“Hey!” Michael exclaimed after about an hour of rocking. “We’re through, we have a hole.”

“Jack?” Hurley asked. “Jack, can you hear me? Come on, dude, answer!” There was a loud groan from inside, and Lena sighed in relief. Jack was alive, injured, but alive.

“Jack?” Lena asked, leaning closer to the tunnel. “Are you okay?”

“I’m pinned.” He yelled back. “I can’t move.”

“What do we do?” Hurley whispered to Michael. “How do we-“  
“Charlie was with me.” Jack yelled. Lena nearly snorted. Even while trapped under a pile of rocks, Jack managed to be selfless.

“He’s okay.” Hurley answered. “He got out.” 

“Jack, we’re going to get you out of there, okay?” Michael said. “Just stay calm.” Jack only coughed in response.

“Okay, we cannot make that tunnel any bigger, but since Jack can’t get out, one of us is going to have to go in and un-pin him.” Michael explained. 

“What, crawl through that?” Hurley replied, pointing to the small tunnel.

“I think we need someone smaller.” Boone commented. Hurley glared at him, knowing that Boone’s statement was an obvious one. 

“I could probably fit down there.” Lena said, although even she was skeptical, and it would be a tight squeeze. She wasn’t that small. 

Jin said something but, yet again, no one understood him.

“Dude, we don’t understand Chinese.” Hurley said.

“They’re Korean, man.” Michael corrected.

“I’ll do it.”

“Charlie?” Hurley asked. Sure enough, the British man was standing in the cave, prepared to go in.

“No, man.” Michael said. “Look, you’re still shook up. Maybe I could squeeze through…”

“Hey, who’s going to take care of your son if something happens.” Charlie argued. “She’s got a husband, he’s got a sister. I’m alone here, no one on the island. Let me do this.” Lena was about to argue that she, as well, had no one on the island, but Charlie was the better option. He was smaller than her, and he could fit in the tunnel. 

“Alright, fine.” Michael sighed. “Go slow, okay? Try not to move any of the rocks around you.” Charlie nodded and positioned himself to go in.

“Anything else?” Charlie asked.  
“Yeah.” Michael said, handing Charlie a bottle of water. “Good luck and be safe.” Charlie grinned a tiny bit before crawling to the entrance of the tunnel.

“Thanks guys.” He said quietly, and he started to crawl in.

Lena didn’t realize she was holding her breath until she realized she needed to breathe. It had only been a few minutes, but still a very worrying few minutes. 

Suddenly, the tunnel rumbled, and bits of dust and debris started falling.

“Charlie? Move!” Michael shouted. Lena could see Charlie’s silhouette frantically scramble towards Jack as the tunnel collapsed.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.” Michael muttered, running towards what was the entrance. Walt, who had been standing in the back, gaped at his father after his use of swear words.

“I say we try again.” Hurley offered.

“Yeah, we can’t just leave them.” Lena added. Hopefully they were still alive after the collapse. But even if they were, how could they get them out.

“If we don’t, they’re going to run out of air.” Boone said, studying the rocks.

“Would you three stop talking!” Michael exclaimed. “I’m trying to think.” 

“Where is he?”

Kate ran into the cave, looking exhausted, out of breath, and worried. She must have finally gotten the news.

Lena and Michael exchanged a nervous glance, neither of them wanting to tell her. In the end, it was Hurley who mustered up the courage.

“He’s in there.” Hurley said quietly, pointing to the collapsed tunnel. 

“Is he alive?” She asked. “Does anyone know if he’s alive?”

“We don’t know.” Lena answered. “Charlie went in there through a tunnel we managed to dig, but that collapsed too.” 

“Then why is nobody digging?” Kate replied, marching over to the pile of rocks and moving them out of the way.

…

“Kate, you need to take a break.” Lena said tiredly. They had been working for hours, but Kate was the only one who had been working non-stop.

“I’m fine.” She said, clearly not fine.

“We’ve got enough people to dig.” Michael added. “If you keep going at this pace ,you’re going to kill yourself.”

“Hey!” Walt yelled. “It’s the doctor!” 

_What?!_

Lena whirled around to see Jack and Charlie walking through the entrance of the caves, covered in dirt and grime, but still alive.

Kate dropped the rocks and ran over to Jack, giving him a giant hug. Jack looked slightly surprised, but didn’t pull away.

“How’d you get out?” Hurley asked. 

“Charlie.” Jack answered. “Charlie found a way.”  
“Dude, you rock.” Hurley said. And Charlie, for the first time, looked actually happy. And in that moment, everyone felt a little bit of hope. 

…

_At age 15, Lena was practically a mother._

_It wasn’t her own mother’s fault, of course. She did what she had to do to feed the family and keep the house. But that meant she wasn’t around a lot, so Lena had to take care of her sister, Marie._

_Lena had been taking care of her sister since she was very young. She didn’t really mind it, except she felt that she skipped part of her childhood. So, she wanted Marie to have good childhood memories._

_That day, she took Marie to the park. And as she watched her little sister running around, she thought about what could have been, what she could have had._

_But imagining perfect life scenarios wouldn’t make them real. If it did, Lena would be living a very different life._


	8. Chapter 8

Walking in the jungle was more peaceful than Lena thought it would be. 

The beach was a long ways away, and since she was currently at the caves, the jungle was her only place to get some fresh air. 

However, the last thing she was expecting to find was a sword sticking out of the ground.

And yet, there it was. The hilt was beautiful, a mix of silver and gold with a green leaf vine pattern. The sword itself was gold as well, but a toned-down kind of gold, not too bright.

It was beautiful. 

Lena pulled the sword out of the ground, and it came free immediately. For some reason, it felt so… _right_ in her hand. Perfectly balanced, and just the right amount of weight. And when Lena held it, she felt stronger. 

_What the hell is this thing?_

She decided to go back to the caves, thinking that would be the best decision. She held the sword the whole way, almost afraid to let go.

When she got back, she immediately approached Jack and Locke, who were filling up water bottles.

“Hey.” Lena said, and both of them turned around. “I found this in the jungle.” 

“Is that a sword?” Jack asked, shocked.

“No, it’s a snake.” She replied sarcastically. “Yes, it’s a sword. It was sticking out of the ground.”  
“Interesting.” Locke said. “Can I see it?” Lena held the sword out, and Locke grabbed the handle. But, as soon as he did so, he shouted in pain and dropped the sword.

“What happened?” Lena asked.

“It burned me.” Locke gasped, pouring water on his hand. “Does it not burn you?”

“Uh… no.” Lena said, reaching down to feel the hilt. “The opposite, actually. It’s cold.” Jack knelt down next to the sword and tentatively poked it. He yanked his hand back, the sword apparently having burned him as well. 

“What the hell?” He muttered.

“Maybe only you can hold it for a reason.” Locke said. Both Lena and Jack looked at him skeptically, but neither of them said anything. 

“Keep the sword for now.” Jack said. “We’ll figure it out later.” Lena nodded and picked it up again. And, just like the first time, it felt perfect in her hand.

…

She held the sword out in front of her, almost afraid to try it out. She was in the middle of the jungle, so the only person she could hurt was herself. Still, she very much valued herself and didn’t really want to get stabbed. 

Lena slashed the sword through the air, feeling it cut through the open area, sharp and quick. Everything about it felt so fitting and familiar, but Lena had never even held a sword before. Well, unless a cheap toy lightsaber counted, which she was pretty sure did not. 

“Did I ever think I would be wielding some kind of magic sword? No.” Lena muttered to herself. “Then again, I never thought I would crash-land on an island, but here I am. And now I’m talking to myself. Great.” 

Instead of just randomly swinging the sword around, which probably wasn’t the best idea, Lena set about to making a sheath. 

Back in the caves, she found a belt, which she hoped didn’t belong to anyone. If not, she was sure they could find another one. Afterwards, she shifted through the wreckage until she found what she was looking for: leather and metal.

It was like some divine force really wanted Lena to keep that sword, because the it was surprisingly easy to make the sheath. It took only a little over an hour, and she was proud of her final result. 

She put on the belt, making sure that the place to put her sword rested on her right hip. Once it was secure, Lena placed the sword in the sheath.

It fit perfectly.

 _Well then_ , Lena thought. _I guess I have a new weapon._

The sound of loud coughing and gasping caused Lena to look up. Jack and Boone were helping a very pale Shannon into the caves and sat her down next to the water as she struggled to breathe.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Lena asked, jogging over to Jack who was filling up water bottles.

“Shannon has asthma.” Jack explained. “And Sawyer somehow got ahold of inhalers. But he won’t give them up.” 

“Seriously?” Lena scoffed. “What the hell does he need them for? Even Sawyer isn’t that inhumane.”

“Well.” Jack said. “Apparently he is.” With that, he brought the water bottles over to Shannon. Lena was shocked by Sawyer’s actions. As insufferable as he was, she never thought he would do something like that. 

Surprisingly, a few minutes later, Sawyer walked into the caves, looking as smug as ever. Jack stormed over to him, furious.

The two had a quiet exchange, and Sawyer must have said something, because Jack lashed out and punched Sawyer in the face.

And Sawyer, being Sawyer, made some sort of sarcastic remark, provoking Jack into punching him again. Jack seemed to realize this, because he shook his head at Sawyer and walked away.

“Guys, she’s not breathing!” Boone shouted. Jack ran over, but Lena kept her distance, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to make things any better. 

…

_“Hey, Marie!” Lena greeted as her sister opened the door. Marie moved a lot, and she was currently in Sydney, Australia._

_“Long time no see.” Marie said, giving Lena a big hug._

_“Auntie Lena!” A little voice shouted. It was Marie’s 3-year-old son, Cade. He jumped into Lena’s arms, and she chuckled as he jumped back down to the floor._

_It had been Marie’s old boyfriend who got her pregnant when she was just 20 years old. But he was gone now, and Lena helped her get on her feet, like she always did._

_“Cade, sweetie, why don’t you go upstairs?” Marie suggested gently. “Your aunt and I have to talk.” Lena raised her eyebrows as Cade ran up the stairs. She wasn’t aware of any conversation that needed to be had._

_“Marie, what’s going on?” Lena asked urgently. She didn’t reply, just led Lena in to the living room and sat down on the couch._

_“We’re running out of money.” Marie whispered._

_“What?!” Lena exclaimed. “How? I gave you enough money to last awhile, and you have your job-“_

_“The money is gone, and I was fired!” Marie yelled. “Okay? I was fired.”_

_“Were you drinking again?” Lena asked. Marie looked down at the floor. “You said you were clean! You said you would stop!”_

_“I couldn’t!” Marie said. “Please, I just need a little more money, you could get more money-“_

_“No!” Lena shouted. “Ever since we were little I’ve done EVERYTHING for you! Everything! You’ve never said thank you, you’ve never even been the slightest bit grateful. You just keep asking for more. You want me to steal for you, to work my ass off for you… and I do it because you’re my sister, and I love you. But you take advantage of that.”_

_It felt so good for her to finally say that. For her to let out all of her negative thoughts and feelings._

_Lena started to walk out when Marie grabbed her arm, tears in her eyes. Marie’s eyes weren’t blue, like Lena’s. They were golden brown, like their mother’s had been._

_“Please.” Marie whispered. “Do it for Cade.” And Lena almost said yes. She almost gave in._

_“I’m sorry.” Lena said softly. “I can’t do this anymore.” And with that, she walked out of the house and slammed the door shut behind her._

…

Lena placed her hand on her sword, feeling her energy rejuvenate. If only Shannon had something like this, something that could help her. 

Suddenly, Sayid sprinted into the cave and started rummaging through the supplies. But what startled Lena the most was the fact that he was covered in blood.

“Sayid?” Lena questioned. “Who’s blood is that.” 

“Sawyer’s” He said tersely, pulling out Jack’s medical bag. Boone yelled something from the other side of the cave, but Lena didn’t here.

“What?!” She exclaimed. “Sayid- what happened?” He didn’t say anything. Instead, he ran out with the medical bag in his hands, leaving Lena completely dumbfounded. 

…

It turned out, Sawyer was lying about having the inhalers the whole time. However, they only got this information after Sayid tortured him, which led to Sayid leaving both camps due to immense guilt.

The only bright spot was that Sun had been smart enough to create eucalyptus paste that worked just as well as an inhaler, so Shannon was going to be alright.

Everything had calmed down a little, which left Lena with her current goal.

Learn how to wield the sword.


	9. Chapter 9

When the plane crashed on the island, Lena had few expectations. However, a sword that burned everyone except her was definitely not one of them.

Yet there she was, practicing with it. She had only had the sword for a day, but she had gotten pretty good at it.

Just as she swung it into a tree, Jack, Michael, and Charlie came walking by, seemingly in a hurry.

“Hey guys.” Lena greeted. “What’s going on?”

“Honestly?” Jack replied. “I have no idea. Hurley’s been working on some kind of project all day, and we’re going to go see what it is.”

“Want to come?” Charlie offered. “If anything bad happens, your freaky sword could come in handy.”

“Sure.” Lena said, unsticking the sword from the tree. She slid it into her sheath and continued along the path with the other three.

They reached the mountain, and saw Hurley standing on a plateau, looking very satisfied. 

“Welcome.” Hurley said, spreading his arms out wide. “To the first, and hopefully last, Island Open.”

“What?”

“It’s two holes for now.” Hurley explained. “3 par, and no waiting.” 

“Hurley, you built a golf course?“ Jack asked. 

“All the stuff we’ve got to deal with man, and this is what you’ve been wasting your time on?” Michael added. But Lena thought it was a great idea. Everyone could use a distraction from the crazy stuff happening on the island.

“Dudes, listen.” Hurley said. “Our lives suck. Everyone’s nerves are stretched to the max. I mean, we’re lost on an island, running from boars and monsters and freaking polar bears!”

“Polar bears?” Michael muttered.

“You didn’t hear about the polar bear?” Charlie replied.

“Look, what I’m trying to say is, if we’re stuck here, then just surviving isn’t going to cut it.” Hurley continued. “We need some kind of relief, you know. Some way that we can have fun. Or else, we’re just going to go crazy waiting for the next bad thing to happen.” 

Lena glanced at Jack. It was really his call. She, personally, thought it would be good for all of them.

“Alright.” Jack said. “Let’s play golf.” 

…

Lena swung her golf club, and the ball went surprisingly far, landing ahead of Charlie’s and just behind Hurley’s.

“Ha!” Hurley exclaimed. “I’m still ahead!” Lena just rolled her eyes and jogged over to Charlie and Hurley, waiting for Michael and Jack to go.

“Heads up over there!” Jack yelled once he picked out his club.  
“No chance!” Charlie shouted back. “You won’t get anywhere near us!” Lena laughed. For the first time since the crash, Lena actually felt happy. She was having fun, something she thought was completely out the window once she got to the island. 

Just as Jack was about to swing, a man came out of the jungle. It was another crash survivor, who had been constantly bothering Jack about some rash.

“Hey Doc?” The guy said. “Listen this rash of mine, it’s starting to spread, like- wait, where are you guys doing? Are you playing golf?” Lena and Charlie glanced at each other nervously.

“Yeah.” Jack sighed, not bothering to lie.

“Can- can I play?” The guy asked.

…

The golf course had attracted a large crowd. More than half of the survivors were there now, all watching or playing golf. Everyone was having fun, and Lena could tell that Hurley was very proud of himself.

“Ugh!” Charlie exclaimed as his drive fell short.

“Tough luck, dude.” Hurley replied. “My turn now.” He set up his ball and swung, completely missing it.

“Crap, do-over.” He muttered.

“It’s a mulligan.” Charlie corrected. “It’s a gentlemen’s sport, you’ve got to get the words right. Mulligan.”

“The words aren’t going to matter if you two keep messing up.” Lena commented.

“Well mine did go farther than yours!” Charlie replied just as Hurley swung again and landed it a little farther than Charlie’s. Lena laughed at the irony of it all. 

A few more turns came and went, until Charlie managed to get to the putting area in just two shots, and was currently stressing out.

“Guys please, I’ve never made par on a course before.” Charlie said. He took a deep breath, made his put, and… missed.

“Dude, you were robbed.” Hurley said. Charlie cursed under his breath and kicked the grass as Jack stepped up to put.

“Alright, Jack, it’s up to you.” Michael said. “If you sink this, you get to wear the blazer.”

“No pressure.” Kate, who had come recently, said. 

“5 bucks says he sinks it.” Hurley called out.

“Make it 10 and you’re on.” Boone called out.

“I don’t have any cash - actually, I don’t think any of us do - but I’ll bet imaginary 5 dollars he misses.” Lena said.

“Wow, Lena, I really thought we were friends.” Jack joked. Lena was at first surprised that Jack actually made a joke, but then she just laughed. 

“Two tubes on sunscreen and a flashlight says he chokes.”

Everyone turned towards the sound of the voice to see Sawyer, standing a few feet away from the group. 

“I’ll take that.” Kate said after a few minutes.

“Yeah, me too.” Boone said. Shannon chided him about just betting on Jack, to which he replied that they needed the sunscreen. 

Jack took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and made his shot. It teetered a bit on the edge of the hole before falling in. 

Everyone cheered, no matter what they bet on. It was a fun moment, a break from the stress and chaos of the island.

“Hurley, here is five imaginary dollars.” Lena said, pretending to hand him money. “I’ll pay you when we get back to civilization.” 

…

The next day, everything had gone back to normal. Well, normal for the island. 

Claire, who had been having nightmares, has apparently been attacked in the middle of the night. 

Lena had gone up to the caves to see if she could help out. She figure if someone attacked, a sword that only she could touch would probably be useful.

While at the caves, Hurley approached her, holding a notepad and pencil.

“Hey Lena.” He said. “I’m making a list of everyone on the island, so… what’s your full name?”  
“Lena Hale Ashford.” She answered. 

“Dude, that’s an awesome name.” Hurley commented.

“Uh, thanks.” Lena replied, laughing a little. “Any other questions?”

“Yeah, a few. What is your place of residence.”

“Currently?” Lena asked. Hurley nodded. “Los Angeles.”

“Last thing: Why were you in Australia?”

“I was visiting my sister.” Lena said. And we got in a fight, and now I might never see her again, she added silently.

“Thanks!” Hurley said brightly. “I got the manifest, but I figured that you’re here, so I might as well.” Hurley then walked of to another part of the cave and started comparing his list to the manifest.

Suddenly, Sayid limped into the cave, bloody and exhausted. Lena made it over to him just as he collapsed. Jack and Kate had gotten there too, and the three of them managed to prop him up on one of the rock formations.

“Sayid?” Lena asked. “Are you okay? What-”

“Listen to me.” He said hoarsely. “I found her, the French woman.” He found her? The woman who had the transmission playing for 16 years?

“Kate, get some water.” Jack ordered, then he turned back to Sayid. “What happened?”

“The woman, on the island.” He rasped. “I had to come back. We’re not alone, Jack. I had to-“

“Jack!” Hurley shouted, sprinting as fast as he could. “We have a problem. The manifest, Jack, the census, the names of everyone who survived, all 46 of us. I interviewed everyone. Here, at the beach, got their names. One them, one of them isn’t… One of them isn't in the manifest. He wasn't on the plane.” 

“What?” Lena exclaimed. “Who wasn’t on the plane?”  
“Ethan.” Hurley gasped. “The Canadian guy, he’s not on the passenger manifest.” If he wasn’t on the plane, then how did he get to the island? Why was he on the island? It didn’t make any sense. Well, nothing on this island made sense, but that was among the most confusing. 

“Well, where the hell is he?” Jack demanded. 

“I don’t know.” Hurley replied worriedly. “I saw him yesterday, but now…”

“Has anyone seen Ethan?!” Jack shouted, but no one in the caves seemed to know where the mysterious man went.

“I think he went to get some wood.” Michael said, proving Lena’s previous thoughts wrong. “He took off on the beach path. Why, what’s going on?”

“Where’s Charlie?” Jack continued. “Where is he?”

“He went after Claire.” Locke answered from the cave entrance. Jack immediately sprinted out of the caves, with Locke running just behind him. 

“Jack, wait!” Kate yelled as she started to stand up.

“Don’t.” Lena said, placing a hand on Kate’s arm. “He knows what he’s doing.” 

…

Locke came back to the caves about an hour later, with the news that Jack had gone off on his own. Kate was furious.

“You let him go by himself?!” She demanded.

“Don’t worry, I’ll catch up.” Locke replied. “What’s the word from the beach.”

“Nothing.” Lena said. “No one has seen Ethan.” 

“I’m coming with you.” Kate said as Locke started to leave. That was kind of her catch phrase at that point. Locke also seemed to assume that she would go, because he handed her a knife. 

“I’ll go too.” Lena offered.

“No, we need someone here that can take care of everyone else.” Locke said. “You’re our best defender if he comes back.” Lena reluctantly sat down and let the two of them go, along with Boone who had volunteered. 

Lena walked over to Sayid, who had been resting. He had a pretty serious leg injury, and Jack did a pretty hasty job of fixing it.

“How’re you doing?” She asked, sitting down next to him.

“Alright, considering the circumstances.” Sayid replied. 

“So.” Lena said tentatively. “What was she like? The French woman, I mean.” She didn’t know if it was rude to ask that, but she went for it anyways.

“She was… odd.” Sayid said. “She’s been on this island for sixteen years. It would make anyone lose their mind a little.”

“Yeah.” Lena shrugged. “From what you said, she doesn’t sound very pleasant.”

“No.” Sayid agreed. “She was not.”

…

Jack and Kate had found Charlie and brought him back, but Claire was still missing. Ethan and his people had her. 

The island had just gotten a whole lot weirder.


	10. Chapter 10

Lena was in the caves, not really doing anything, when Charlie suddenly ran over, looking like he had just made some kind of discovery.

“Guys!” Charlie shouted as Jack and Sayid also walked over. He waved a blue notebook in the air as he spoke. “You have to hear this!”

“What is that?” Jack asked.

“It’s Claire’s.” Charlie answered. “Her diary.”

“You’re reading her her diary?” Lena exclaimed incredulously. Why was he invading her privacy like that?

“Yes, I know, I’m bloody scum.” Charlie said. _Well, at least he acknowledges it._ “But listen to this: ‘I had that weird dream again, the one with the black rock I can't get away from. I try to leave it but it won't let me.’”

“Black rock?” Sayid whispered. 

“It’s just dreams, Charlie.” Jack said dismissively.

“No, he’s right.” Lena said. “Sayid, didn’t the French woman say something about a black rock?”

“Yes, she told be about her team returning from the Black Rock.” Sayid explained. “Maybe it’s the triangle on the map.” Lena didn’t bother to ask what that was.

“Maybe it’s where they took Claire.” Charlie wondered aloud.

“Maybe.” Jack said. “But Charlie, there's no sense going out into the jungle in the middle of the night. We can look for it tomorrow.” 

…

_“I’m telling you, Lena, you’re going to love him.” Said one of Lena’s few friends, Annie. She had set her up on a blind date with a friend of hers, and Lena was extremely nervous._

_“I don’t really like the idea of going on a date with a complete stranger.” Lena said._

_“He’s very attractive, if that helps.” Annie added._

_“Excuse me, is this my date or yours?” Annie just laughed as she pulled over next to the restaurant where the date would take place._

_“He’s wearing a blue v-neck shirt and he’ll be holding a white rose.” Annie said. “Good luck.”_

_“Thanks.” Lena replied dryly as she opened her car door. She took one last glance at Annie, who waved her towards the restaurant. Lena rolled her eyes and walked in._

_She immediately scanned the room until her eyes fell upon the man in the blue shirt holding the white rose. He had sandy-colored hair and dark brown eyes. But what struck him the most to her was that he looked just as nervous as she felt._

_His eyes met hers, and Lena suddenly became unaware of everything around her, only seeing him._

…

“Jack!” Someone shouted from the cave entrance. “Where’s Jack?!” It was Locke and Boone, running as fast as they could. But what caught Lena’s eye was the fact that Locke was carrying Claire.

“Oh my god.” Lena whispered. How did she escape from Ethan? Or did Locke save her?

“Claire?!” Charlie shouted.

“Is she alive?” Michael asked from the back of the cave. Amidst all the chaos, Jack took Claire in his arms at set her down gently near the water.

“Where did you find her?” Jack asked.

“About a mile north.” Locke replied. “She collapsed in my arms.”

“Is she injured?” Hurley asked.

“Everybody back off, okay!” Jack shouted. “Give her some air. Claire, can you hear me. You need to wake up. Claire, wake up.”

Suddenly, Claire’s eyes shot open, and she gasped, scrambling away from Jack.

“Claire, you’re safe!” Charlie said. “It’s okay.” 

“Who are you?” She gasped. “Who are you people?!”

_Oh shit._

…

“I- I don’t understand.” Claire whispered after they told her everything that was going on. “I don’t know any Ethan. I don’t remember any of you, I don’t remember any of this.” 

“What do you remember?” Charlie asked gently.

“I, um, was on a plane flying to LA from Sydney.” Claire answered. Lena marveled at the fact that she didn’t remember the crash, or any of the days that followed. 

“Claire, we were all on that plane.” Jack explained. ”It crashed here, on this island. That was almost a month ago. Your baby is fine, everything is normal.”

“If it’s been almost a month, then why has no one come to get us?” Claire asked. Everyone glanced at each other, not really sure what to say. Lena definitely didn’t want to break the news to an amnesiac pregnant woman that no one was coming. 

…

“How did she get back?” Sayid asked. It was the next morning, and Lena, Sayid, Charlie, Locke and Jack had all come together to discuss what to do next.

“The girl is pregnant.” Sayid continued. “Very pregnant. Are we supposed to believe she escaped from him?” As much as Lena hated it, he had a point.

“What are you getting at?” Charlie asked.

“Ethan infiltrated us.” Sayid said. “Whoever he is and wherever he comes from, he’s intelligent. Who's to say he didn't even send Claire?”

“You’re off your bloody head, mate!” Charlie shouted. “That-“

“Charlie calm down.” Jack sighed. “That is a stretch, Sayid.”

“But I can see where he’s coming from.” Lena added. “Let me ask you this, Doctor Jack: How many times have you diagnosed amnesia, and especially a case as selective as Claire’s?”

“Okay, it’s rare.” Jack admitted. “But she’s been through a major trauma. It is possible that her memory reset to the crash.” 

“And the chances of that memory returning?” Locke, who had been silent throughout the whole conversation, asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You know what?” Charlie exclaimed. “You all can talk about Claire all you want. I’m actually going to go spend some time with her. I get the impression she might still be a tad upset.” With that, he stormed off towards the caves, clearly angry that they even considered Claire knowing more than what she said. 

And then, about fifteen minutes later, Charlie came running back.

“Help!” He shouted. “Ethan… Ethan came!”  
“What?” Jack asked. “What are you talking about.”

“Ethan.” Charlie panted. “He came to me, he said if we didn’t bring Claire to him, he’s kill us all one by one.”  
“What do we do?” Locke whispered. 

“What do we do?!” Charlie echoed. “We go out and we bloody kill him!” Locke started to tell Charlie to calm down, but it was Jack, surprisingly, who supported Charlie’s idea.

“I think Charlie’s right.” Jack interrupted, leaving the rest of them shocked. “The man threatens to kill one of us unless we bring him Claire, and what, we just wait for that to happen? We tracked him once before, we can track him again.”

“You both are forgetting how that turned out.” Locke said. “And we’re armed with a few knives and a sword.”

“I could take him out with the sword.” Lena said quietly. 

“You’re not running into the jungle alone to hunt him down with just a sword.” Locke said, shooting down her idea. “We’ll only tell a select few about the threat. We post some sentries here and at the caves.”

“If we only tell a select few and he does what he says he would do, that blood is going to be on our hands.” Lena pointed out. Both Jack and Charlie nodded in agreement. 

“Then we tell everyone.” Locke sighed, throwing his hands up in the air. “But if you want to protect them, we need to start thinking defense.”

“We could move everybody up to the caves.” Jack suggested. 

“What if Ethan isn't alone? What if he delivered his threat so that we would gather like sheep to the slaughter in a confined space where they can roll in and take us all in one fell swoop.” Locke countered. Lena and Charlie exchanged an annoyed glance. Locke was just shooting down every single idea they came up with.

“Alright, clearly you have a plan, John.” Jack said. “Let’s hear it.” 

…

“Alright, test run, go!” Lena yelled. Boone purposefully tripped the wire, and a garbage bag fell, making a very loud noise that would wake up even the heaviest sleepers.

“Not bad.” Sayid commented. They had built a perimeter trip wire signal, and it seemed to be working very well.

“Four of these will do the job.” Locke decided.

“I have fires prepared every 20 meters.” Sayid added.

“And I have a sword.” Lena concluded. 

“Some people have volunteered for sentry duty.” Sayid said. “I’ll put them on rotating shifts. Lena, did you hand out the knives?”

“I sure did.”

“I’ll take a shift.” Boone piped up.

“Absolutely.” Locke said. “We’re counting on you.”


	11. Chapter 11

Lena’s shift of guarding the camp from Ethan and his people ended around midnight, and as it became that time, she handed her torch to Boone, who looked grim as he prepared for his shift.

She tucked her sword into the sheath and leaned against a tree, quickly giving in to sleep…

Bam! The garbage bag alarm fell. Quick as a whip, Lena jumped to her feet, her blade somehow already in her hand. Instincts, she supposed.

She ran towards the source of the sound, passing a slightly-slower-than-her Boone.

There was a loud female scream a few feet away from the garbage bag alarm. Lena skidded to a stop and stared in horror at the body lying facedown in the sand.

“What happen?” Boone exclaimed as he ran up next to Lena. She knelt down next to the body and felt for a pulse, but she knew her efforts were futile.

“Is he alive?” Sayid, who had just arrived, asked.

“No.” Lena said shakily. “He- he’s dead.”

“Oh god.” Boone whispered, barely audible.

“How did he get past us?” Sayid wondered.

“Who is that?” Boone asked, ignoring Sayid. Clearly he felt guilty that it happened on his watch.

“Scott.” Lena answered, recognizing his bloody face. “Ethan did exactly what he said he would. And he’s going to do it again.”

…

“Scott Jackson worked for an internet company in Santa Cruz.” Hurley began at Scott’s funeral. “He won a sales prize: a two week Australian vacation, all expenses paid. He was a good guy. Sorry, I kept calling you Steve, man. Um, amen, I guess.”

“Amen.” A few people muttered. Something about Scott’s death hit Lena hard, hit everybody hard. They tried hard to prevent it, but they couldn’t stop it no matter what they tried. 

…

“You’ve had guns the whole time, and you didn’t want to say anything?!”

“Believe me, I am just as surprised as you.” Sayid said. A few minutes ago, he had approached her and told her that Jack had a case full of guns that they were now going to use on Ethan, and she was shocked.

“Do you know how to use a gun or not, Lena?” Jack asked.

“If I say yes, will you ask why?” Lena countered skeptically, not wanting to reveal things about her past.

“No.”

“Then yes, I do.” She said. Jack raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything, and handed her one of the guns, and she felt the cold metal in her hand, trying not to think about all of the times she had used one.

She had really wanted to change her ways, but Lena guessed that wasn’t happening any time soon.

“Are you insane?!” Charlie shouted, storming over to them. “You’re going to use Claire as bait?!”

“What?!” Lena exclaimed. No one had told her that part of the plan.

“It’s the best chance we have, Charlie.” Jack sighed.

“No. No bloody way.”

If you want to capture Ethan, we have to ensnare him.” Sayid said. “And the only way do that is by giving him what he wants.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.” Charlie spat. “This guy will kill you all. You can’t protect her-“

“Charlie, I can speak for myself.” Claire said as she entered the caves. “I don’t remember Ethan, or what he did to me. But if I can help stop him from hurting anyone else, I have to do that.”

“Then I’m coming with you.” Charlie stated. “You said there were 5 guns.” 

“Have you ever fired a weapon, Charlie?” Locke asked. Charlie glanced down at the ground as an answer. Furiously, he stomped away.

“Charlie is right.” Locke said. 

“About what?” Jack asked distractedly. 

“We have 5 guns, we should have 5 men.” It didn’t take a genius to figure out who he was talking about.

“No.” Lena said. “You want to trust Sawyer with a gun?!”

“I agree with Lena, that’s a terrible idea.” Sayid added. 

“It’s also the only one we have.” Jack sighed. “Let’s go down to the beach, get Sawyer, and then we can go through with the plan.

…

_Since the blind date, Lena had been on many more dates with the man, who’s name was Joseph._

_That day, she was going to his apartment, and they were going to have dinner together. She was only a little nervous. No, scratch that, a lot nervous._

_She knocked on the door, and it was opened immediately by Joseph’s dark brown eyes. His hair was a mess, and he was practically covered in flour._

_“Um…” He began, trying to flatten his hair. “I tried to cook. It didn’t go well.”_

_“It’s okay.” Lena said, desperately trying to hold back laughter. “We can just order pizza.”_

_“That’s a great idea.” Joseph said. Once he turned around, Lena silently let out all of her laughs._

_Joseph ordered the pizza, and the two of them ate it while watching a baseball game. Neither of them were rooting for a specific team, and they were barely paying attention to the game._

_“So, Lena.” Jospeh said. “I was, uh, wondering if you wanted to, you know, officially be my girlfriend?”_

_Lena was shocked into silence. She had never officially been with anyone, and she didn’t know who to say. She had no idea why anyone would want to date her._

_“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to.” Joseph said, seeing Lena’s silence. “It’s okay-“ Lena stopped him by kissing him, and their arms wrapped around each other so naturally, like two pieces of a puzzle._

_“So I guess that’s a yes?” Joseph said._

_“Yes.” Lena whispered. “Joseph… I love you.”_

…

Lena crouched down behind a large rock, her gun in hand. Everyone else was scattered throughout the area, including Kate and Sawyer, who Jack had managed to recruit.

It was raining, which was inconvenient for both sides. So, Lena supposed, it could also be an advantage.

Claire walked through the open jungle, looking terrified but walking confidently. Lena admired her bravery and willingness to do this.

Suddenly, Ethan burst out of a tree and started to chase Claire. Lena readied her weapon as Jack ran forward and tackled Ethan to the ground. 

Lena saw Jack’s gun fly out of his hand as he and Ethan punched each other, before Jack gained the upper hand and shoved Ethan into the mud.

At this point, Sawyer, Lena, and Kate had arrived, all pointing their guns at the mysterious Ethan.

“Hold your fire!” Sayid ordered as he approached with Locke.

“Nice once, Doc.” Sawyer commented as Jack rose up from the ground. “Now, somebody tell me who or what this son of a bitch is!”

Ethan started to weakly stand up, and all of them - besides Jack- pointed their guns at him.

“Not so fast, jungle boy.” Sawyer said. “Not even-“

_Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!_

Ethan staggered back, six bullet holes appearing in his chest. He collapsed to the ground as blood flowed from his wounds. Jack ran forward, but even Lena could tell that Ethan was already dead.

She turned around, wanting to see who had fired the shots, and was immensely surprised by who she saw.

“Charlie?!”


	12. Chapter 12

It had been a few days since Charlie killed Ethan, and the island had been mostly uneventful except for a boar attacking Sawyer. So, of course, things had to get crazy.

Jin and Sun were standing by the water. Jin was yelling about something, and Sun replied angrily. And very loudly. Those two seemed to argue about everything. 

“There they go again.” Jack sighed. Even Jack was getting annoyed, and, like Lena always said, he was basically a selfless robot. 

“Should we do something?” Claire asked. Lena had been wondering the same thing, but what could she do? No one understood them except for each other. 

Jin started to drag Sun away, and, to Lena’s surprise, Micheal ran forward and shoved Jin away. 

Jin whirled on Michael, looking extremely angry, and raised his fists. But before he could do anything, Sun stepped between the two of them and slapped Michael in the face.

Leaving everybody shocked, most of all Michael, Sun grabbed Jin’s hand and stormed away. 

“What do you think that was all about?’ Hurley said to no one in particular.

“I have no idea.” Lena, who happened to be standing closest to him, replied. 

…

“Help, somebody help!”

Lena was once again awakened from her semi-peaceful sleep by the sound of screams and shouts.

 _Can’t you all just let me sleep?!_ She mentally cursed, but those thoughts completely vanished from her mind as she saw the raft that Michael had been building on fire.

“Oh shit!” She yelled, running along with the crowd towards the burning raft. 

Everyone grabbed sand, water, whatever they could use to put the fire out, but it had already spread too much. 

“No, no, no!” Michael screamed, before coming to the obvious conclusion. He whirled on Sun, who had also been trying to put the fire out. “Where is he? Where the hell is he?!”

Of course, he thought Jin set the fire.

Sun shouted something in Korean and took a few steps back.

“Where is he?!” Michael shouted again.

“She doesn’t understand you!” Jack yelled.

“Where is he?!"

“Michael, calm the hell down.” Lena exclaimed, hand on her sword just in case.

“Back off.” Kate added.

“No, her husband did this, and she knows it.” Michael insisted. “You’re trying to protect him now, is it?”

“She was with me!” Kate yelled. Sun, clearly overwhelmed by all of this, ran off into the jungle as Michael was distracted by Walt.

“I’m going to break his damn neck!” Michael declared as he started to follow Sun. But Kate and Jack wisely held him back.

“Just take it easy, okay.” Jack said. “We don’t know that Jin did this.” Lena frowned skeptically. As much as she wanted to believe that he was innocent, all the signs pointed to Jin being the culprit. 

“Are you serious?!” Shouted Sawyer.

“Sawyer, shut up!”

“Jack, we all saw him at the beach this morning.” Charlie reasoned. “And who else here would have burned it down?”

“It does’t mean he torched the raft!” Jack argued.

“Then who the hell did?!” Michael shouted, louder than everyone else. 

…

Lena was picking fruit in the jungle when Sayid approached her, looking conflicted. 

“Hey, Sayid.” Lena greeted. “What’s going on?”

“I, um, need advice.” Sayid said nervously. “Relationship advice.” Lena stared at him for a minute and then doubled over laughing.

“Wha- it’s not funny!” Sayid exclaimed.

“I know, I know, just…” And then she started laughing again, even harder than before. “The fact that you’re coming to me for relationship advice is hilarious.”

“You seem like the kind of person who’s good with relationships.” Sayid said defensively.

“I don’t know what gave you that idea, but okay.” Lena said. “What’s your relationship problem?”

“I think I… you know, _like_ Shannon.” Sayid began. Lena felt herself deflate slightly, and then found herself wondering why she felt disappointed. “And I think she likes me as well, but her brother said she’s only in it for herself…”

“Well Sayid, let Lena the Relationship Coach sort out your problems.” She said, ignoring the odd feeling inside her. “The answer here is simple: Do you want to be with her?”

“Yes.”

And Lena could see it. The way he didn’t hesitate with his answer. The absolute certainty in his eyes.

“Then go for it.”

Sayid smiled and ran back towards the beach. Lena smiled as well, feeling very accomplished and satisfied.

She only felt a little bit jealous.

…

When Lena got back to the beach, it was in complete chaos.

Michael had gotten Jin somehow, and the two of them were shouting at each other while everyone looked on. 

“Michael, stop!” Lena exclaimed.

“Look at his hands!” Michael shouted. “They’re burned all over! From the fire that he started!” Jin started to argue, which made Michael even angrier.

“You said something to me!” Michael yelled. He lunged at Jin, but Jack ran forward to hold him back.

“Michael.” Jack said evenly.

“No, say it again man!” Michael screamed at Jin. Lena noticed Sun looking on, horrified at the scene before her. But who could blame her?

Michael broke free of Jack’s grip and punched Jin in the face. Jack moved forward, but Sawyer stopped him, saying that it was their fight. 

Meanwhile, the two men were in a full-on brawl, punching and kicking, full of hatred.

“Stop it! Leave him alone!”

Everyone, including Lena, turned towards the voice. Surely she was hearing things? But no, Sun was speaking English. 

“He didn’t burn your raft.” She said, shrinking under everyone’s gaze. Lena’s eyes shifted to Jin, who, to her surprise, looked just as shocked as everybody else.

“You speak English?” Charlie exclaimed, breaking the very awkward silence.

“Plot twist.” Lena muttered.

“Yeah, I didn’t see that coming.” Hurley added.

“You understood us this whole time?” Jack asked incredulously. “Why the hell didn’t you say anything?”

“Your raft was already on fire when he arrived.” Sun continued, ignoring the rest of the shocked survivors. “He burned his hands trying to put it out.” 

“Then why did he run?” Michael asked. Sun repeated the question in Korean, but Jin didn’t reply, simply staring at her with a betrayed expression.

“He’s not a liar!” Sun insisted.

“I wouldn’t lecture us about lying.” Sawyer commented. “From the look on his face, even your man here didn’t know you speak English. How do we know she isn’t covering up for him?”

“Because she isn’t!” Said a new voice. It was Locke, walking down from the jungle. “Why would he burn the raft?”

He's been after me since day one, everybody knows it!” Michael argued. “What if-“

“Okay, it's personal, but why take it out on our best chance of getting off the island?” Locke interrupted. “Why would any one of us block an attempt to get home? We're so intent on pointing the finger at one another that we're ignoring the simple undeniable truth that the problem isn't here, it's there! They've attacked us, sabotaged us, abducted us, murdered us! Maybe it's time we stop blaming us and start worrying about them! We're not the only people on this island and we all know it!”

 _Wow, that was a Jack-level speech_ , Lena thought. But Locke was right. Ethan hadn’t been alone. There were others, and they clearly weren’t friendly. 

“He did not do it.” Sun repeated again, but her words fell on deaf ears after Locke’s big exclamation. 

And clearly everyone was thinking about it, including Lena. Locke’s words kept playing over and over in her head like a broken record.

 _We're not the only people on this island and we all know it!_ No, they were not. And deep down, it scared Lena. It scared them all.


	13. Chapter 13

Lena quietly hummed to herself as she filled up water bottles to bring down to the beach. She was determined to make this day normal.

Unfortunately, as she saw Sayid storm angrily into the caves, she knew that wasn’t going to happen.  
“Where is Jack?” Sayid asked Lena.

“I-“ Lena started to say that she didn’t know, but Jack walked out from behind one of the rock formations, making the question pointless.

“Where is it?” Sayid demanded. He was angrier than Lena had ever seen him, and she wondered what Jack could have possibly done to make him this mad. 

“Where’s what?” Jack asked, confused.

“The map, Rousseau’s map.” Sayid explained. “I told you, it won’t help you find her?” The French woman? Why would they want to find her?

“Slow down.” Jack said. “I don’t hav the map.”

“What makes this worse is that you don't even do your own dirty work.” Sayid continued. “You get Hurley to do it for you.”

“Uh, what?” Lena said. She was completely lost in the conversation.

“Hurley?” Jack said.  
“He was in my tent last night, quizzing me about Rousseau, about numbers she wrote…” Sayid trailed off. “You don’t know anything about this, do you?” Jack shook his head worriedly and then addressed Charlie, who had just walked in with firewood under his arm.

“Charlie, have you seen Hurley?” Jack asked.

“A few hours ago, yeah.” Charlie said. “He was going out for a walk. Acting like a loon, I might add.”

“Oh my god.” Sayid whispered. “He’s going after her.” 

Lena sighed. So much for a normal day.

…

Sayid, Jack, Lena, and Charlie apparently caught up with Hurley just in time, because Sayid’s eyes widened seeing something he stepped on.

“Hurley, don’t move!” Sayid yelled, running into view.

“What are you guys-“ Hurley started to ask, leaning forward. Now Lena could see the giant ball of pointy spikes hanging just over Hurley’s head. If he moved, those would too.

“I said do not move.” Sayid interrupted. “If you take your weight off it, it will release that.” He pointed to the sticks, and Hurley paled.

“We’re gonna have to pull an Indiana Jones here and replace his weight with something else.” Lena deduced. 

“Replace his weight? How?” Charlie exclaimed.

“I could just drop the wire.” Hurley suggested. Charlie was right before, when he said Hurley was ‘acting like a loon.’ He seemed crazy. 

“No!” Sayid and Jack yelled.

“I’ll find a big rock, or something.” Charlie said, backing up. “A really big rock, yeah.”

“I’m dropping the wire.” Hurley said. As much as the other four protests, Hurley let the wire fall to the ground. Lena flinched, but nothing happened.

“I can make it.” Hurley insisted, staring at the bundle of sticks. “I can definitely get out of the way, I’m spry.” All four of them protested this statement as Hurley prepared to run.

“Hurley, don’t even-“ Jack started to say, but Hurley dove off the trigger, and the sticks missed him by mere inches. 

“Hurley, what the bloody hell's wrong with you?!” Charlie said furiously. “You could have gotten yourself killed!”

“Nothing’s wrong with me.” Hurley said. “I came out here to get a battery. You guys coming or what?” Sayid let out a very long sigh, and Jack also looked quite annoyed, but neither of them told anyone to turn back.

“Fine, you can come.” Sayid said. “But I think it would be best if I took the lead.” 

“Excellent idea.” Charlie noted, and they walked through the jungle in silence. 

There was really nothing to be said as they walked, because the only thing on all of their minds was questions. Was Hurley going crazy? Would they find the French woman? What if-

“It stops here.” Sayid stated, reaching the end of the wire. “It goes into the ground. This poses somewhat of a problem.”

“Somewhat?” Lena echoed. “I’m pretty sure that’s just a flat out problem.” 

“Hey guys?” Charlie yelled from a few feet away. “You should come see this.” Lena walked over to where Charlie was standing and couldn’t believe her eyes. Because, across a canyon, there was a broken down rope bridge.

“I swear, this island is turning into a fantasy novel.” Lena muttered. Not that there was anything wrong with fantasy novels, she just didn’t want to be living in one. 

“You never mentioned anything about a bridge.” Jack said to Sayid, who seemed just as awed as the rest of them.

“I never saw this before.” Sayid replied.  
“She couldn’t have built this by herself.” Lena said. “I mean, she’s just one weird French person.” Sayid, however, reminded her that she hadn’t been alone upon first arriving to the island, and that her people might have helped her build it. 

“Or Ethan’s people.” Charlie said with a shudder. Hurley, who hadn’t said anything, grabbed the handle and started walking across the small, narrow bridge.

“Hurley, what are you doing?” Jack asked urgently.

“Relax, I'm just going to check it out.” Hurley replied. “You guys should stay here.”

“And we’re sure he hasn’t gone crazy?” Lena murmured as Jack, Charlie, and Sayid shouted for him to come back, even though Hurley showed no indication of turning around. 

“Dudes, chill, I’ll be fine.” Hurley said. He was halfway across the bridge now, and the only thing Lena could do was hold her breath and pray. 

Thankfully, Hurley got to the other side of the canyon safely, so maybe he wasn’t crazy after all. 

Charlie, seeing Hurley standing on the other side, moved towards the bridge and started to walk across. Surprisingly, Lena was even more worried this time.

“Charlie!” Jack exclaimed.

“Hey, if he can do it…” Charlie trailed off. He made it about three fourths of the way before the end of the bridge on Lena’s side collapsed. She gasped as Charlie jumped towards Hurley, who pulled him onto solid ground.

“I’m okay!” Charlie exclaimed. “Woo!”

“Alright, you two stay there!” Jack yelled. “We’ll find away around and meet you there!” 

…

About half an hour later, they still hadn’t found a way to get to where Hurley and Charlie were. Instead, it felt like they were walking in circles. As much as they pretended, Jack and Sayid didn’t know where they were going.

“Stop.” Sayid said suddenly, putting his arm out in front of the other two.

“What?” Jack and Lena asked at the same time.

“This area is familiar.” Sayid explained. “I think we’re close.”

“How do you know?” Jack replied, starting to walk forward again. “I thought she lived underground.” And, just as he said that, he stepped on a wire. 

There was a giant explosion just a few feet in front of them, and all three of them were thrown back. 

“Well.” Lena groaned. “I think we found it.” 

“That’s a pretty hardcore security system.” Jack commented as they walked down into Rousseau’s destroyed home. “Someone trips a wire and the whole place blows up?”

“There’s nothing here.” Sayid sighed as he shifted through the rubble. “No batteries, no supplies, nothing.”  
“I don’t get it.” Lena said. “Why the hell would she blow up her shelter?”

“She knew.” Sayid explained. “She knew that one day I’d come back and bring others. So she abandoned it, booby trapped it, and moved on.”

“Where?” Jack asked. Sayid didn’t have an answer to that, apparently. 

Suddenly, Charlie burst through the trees, panting hard and out of breath. Hie expression turned to a relieved one when he saw them standing in the ruins.

“Hey!” He yelled. “Someone shot at us, Hurley and me. We were looking for you when it just came out of nowhere!”

“Rousseau.” Sayid sighed.

“Where’s Hurley?” Jack asked urgently.

“I- I don’t know.” Charlie said, looking worried. “He was right behind me and then he just wasn’t. We have to find him!” 

“We should all go, safety in numbers.” Lena suggested. 

“Go where?”

And there was Hurley, standing in between two trees and looking… happy. 

“Hurley!” Charlie exclaimed. “What the bloody hell happened to you?”

“Need a battery?” Hurley asked, ignoring Charlie and pulling a few batteries out of his backpack. “She says hi, Sayid.” Sayid’s eyes widened in confusion, but Hurley didn’t offer an explanation. 

“How did you get these?” Sayid managed to ask, still with a shocked expression on his face. Hurley just shrugged and gave a four-word answer.

“I guess I’m lucky.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thanks for reading another chapter of Adrift. I just want to take a quick second to say to all my silent readers: Is there anything stopping you from leaving a comment? Even a simple "good job" would be great, or, even better, constructive criticism about the chapter or the story. I'm not going to be one of those "comment or I'll stop updating" authors because that's just mean, but it would be really great if you could leave some feedback.


	14. Chapter 14

Ever since crashing on the island, Lena had known that some people would get hurt, and even die.

Still, she didn’t think anything could have prepared her for seeing John Locke carry a blood-covered Boone into the caves.

“Jack!” Locke shouted. “Help!” Thankfully, Jack was in the caves, and he ran over as fast as he could.

“No, no, no.” Jack muttered. “Put him down here. What happened?”

“There was an accident.” Locke explained breathlessly. Lena noticed, in horror, that he was covered in Boone’s blood. “Boone fell off a cliff near the place we were hunting.” Jack tore Boone’s shirt away, and hie serious wounds became visible.

“Oh god.” Lena whispered.

“I need some water, shirts towels, anything I can use to stop the bleeding!” Jack instructed. Lena dashed off immediately, gathering up supplies by the armful and dumping them next to Jack.

 _Just focus, don’t think about it,_ Lena said to herself. But it was hard not to think about it while Boone was bleeding and dying right in front of her.

“John, tell me exactly what happened.” Jack said. But, as he looked around the room, he didn’t see Locke anywhere. “John? Locke?! Locke?!” 

“He’s gone Jack.” The words burst out of Lena’s mouth. “Focus on Boone.” Jack nodded, closed his eyes for about five seconds, and then opened them, a newfound confidence in his expression.

“Alright.” Jack said. “Sun, I need a pair of scissors, second drawer of the cart. Hurley, get me that first class seat from up there, and that mesh. We need to- Hurley, don’t you dare faint! Lena, you need to keep pressure on his leg and stop the bleeding. Do what you need to do. And Kate, go to the beach and ransack Sawyer’s stuff. I want any alcohol you can find.” 

Lena didn’t really hear any of the instructions except for her own, so she kept pressure on Boone’s bloody leg, adrenaline being the only thing keeping her going.

There was a loud gasping noise and Boone struggled to breathe, sounding like a fish out of water. 

“What’s going on?” Lena asked.

“His lung just collapsed.” Jack replied quietly. He grabbed some materials and poked a small hole in Boone’s chest where he inserted a tube. “There you, go Boone, just breathe.” His head snapped up as he surveyed the room. “Kate, what are you still doing here? The alcohol! You want him to live, then get to the beach, now!” 

Jack’s words seemed to snap Kate from her shock, as she ran from the caves and down towards the beach.

“Lena, don’t you dare let go of his leg.” Jack warned as he readied himself for what was coming.

“Don’t worry.” Lena replied. “I’m not planning on it.” Jack eased Boone’s pant leg up in order to see the wound better, with Lena still holding it down.  
“It hurts.” Boone moaned.

“It’s a closed fracture, but I think I can set it.” Jack muttered.

“What about the wound in his chest?” Asked Sun, who was the only one left besides Jack and Lena. “Can you… sew him?”

“He’s lost a lost of blood.” Jack said. “I wonder how far Locke had to carry him.”

“I’m going to die.” Boone whispered.

“Boone, listen to me.” Jack said, his voice shaking slightly. “You are not going to die, okay? I’m going to fix this, I’m going to save you.” 

“No, I can’t…” Boone trailed off.

“Save your strength okay?” Lena said. Boone’s eyes slid in and out of focus, but he didn’t say anything more. Lena took a moment to steady herself before continuing to keep pressure on his leg. 

“I’m starting with the chest wound.” Jack muttered, more to himself than to Lena, Sun, or Boone. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” Boone muttered.

_Why would he have to be sorry?_

“He needs blood.” Jack decided.

“What, like a transfusion?” Lena asked. Jack nodded in confirmation. “How the hell will you do that?”

“I don’t know.” Jack admitted. “But I’ll figure it out after I set his leg.” Lena shuddered involuntarily. Setting bones always made her want to puke. But she had to stay strong now.

Sun left the tent and came back a few minutes later, holding a long stick. Lena didn’t have to guess what that was for. And when Sun explained that it was for the pain, she put it between his teeth. 

“Sun, will you hold his shoulders?” Jack asked. “And Lena, hold down his chest.” Both women obliged, taking their assigned positions and Jack pulled Boone’s leg as hard as he could.

Boone’s scream filled the tense air, somehow unlike any cry of pain Lena had ever heard before. 

“Now we need to give him a transfusion.” Jack sighed. “But we don’t know his blood type.”

“Let me.” Sun said, leaning over Boone. “Boone? Can you hear me? What is your blood type? Please, Boone, we need to know.” Jack, meanwhile, was trying to make some kind of needle out of bamboo, but it wasn’t working.

“Maybe try a smaller piece?” Lena suggested, but the look on Jack’s face told her that was a terrible idea.

“Veins are like a wet noodle.” Jack explained. Weird analogy, but alright. “First you have to find one, and then you need a hollow needle sharp enough to actually pierce it. The only thing I have is bamboo. Not that it even matters because I don’t know his blood type, not to mention-“

“A-negative.” 

“Boone, what did you say?” Jack asked for clarification, but Boone had moved on.

“Shannon, the plane.” He whispered. “Shannon…”

That brought his sister to the forefront of Lena’s mind. Where was Shannon? If she had been at the beach, someone would have told her by now. Why wouldn’t she want to be with her dying brother?

 _No,_ Lena reminded herself. _He’s not going to die._

“A-negative.” Jack repeated. “Sun, get Charlie and ask everyone what their blood type is, okay? And find his god damn sister. Find Shannon.” 

“What do we do now?” Lena asked.

“We wait.” Jack replied, putting fresh bandages on Boone’s stomach wound.

“I found an A!” Charlie exclaimed, running into the tent a few minutes later. “But she doesn’t know if it’s positive or negative. I also found two B positive and one AB negative. At least, that’s what he thinks.”

“You only asked four people?” Jack said angrily.

“I asked the entire sodding camp!” Charlie said defensively. “No one knows their blood type. Hell, even I don’t know my bloody blood type.” Lena didn’t know her blood type either, but saying that out loud wouldn’t help the situation. 

Sun entered the tent, looking frazzled but had a sense of accomplishment.

“Did you find Shannon?” Jack asked.

“No.” Sun said, holding up a spiky sea urchin. “I got this. A hollow needle sharp enough to pierce a noodle.” She broke off a piece and, sure enough, it was just right.

“It’s perfect.” Jack assured her.“Sun, you are a genius.” Lena added. 

“Not to rain on your little parade, but I thought you said we needed someone who’s A negative.” Charlie pointed out. Lena frowned, knowing it was a valid point.

“Or O negative.” Jack said. “Which I am. O negative is a universal donor. I can give him blood.” 

“Jack, are you sure?” Lena asked as he set up the transfusion.

“I better be.” Jack muttered, plunging the needle in his arm. His blood flowed into Boone’s veins and, maybe Lena was imagining it, but Boone started to look a little better.

Suddenly, Jin ran into the tent, yelling Jack’s name. He stopped short at the sight of Sun, but only for a second. He launched into an explanation before realizing they couldn’t understand him, and then uttered one word: “Claire.”

“Claire!” Charlie said, perking up at the sound of her name. “What about Claire?” Jin hastily explained and then looked to Sun for translation.

“He says Claire is with Kate.” Sun translated. “She’s in labor, just of the beach. He says he think she’s okay, but she’s in pain.”

 _Of all the days?!_ Lena mentally shouted. _Seriously?_

“Does he know how fast her contractions are coming?” Jack asked. Jin answered quickly, but Sun seemed to catch every word.

“Every 2 minutes.” Sun said. “And she can’t move.”

“We need to go!” Charlie yelled. “We need towels, bandages… hot water? How to we take hot water?”

“Well, you need to figure that out.” Jack sighed. With that, he gave Charlie and Jin instructions on what to do, and finished by saying: “Tell Kate she’s going to have to deliver this baby.” 

_Now would be a great time to have more than one doctor,_ Lena thought. But even if no one was injured, Jack wasn’t a fertility doctor. If only there was one on the island. 

…

“Come on Boone.” Jack whispered, shining a light into his eyes. It was been about half and hour since Jin came with the news about Claire, and Boone’s condition wasn’t getting any better.

“The transfusion isn’t working.” Lena said.

“The blood isn’t the problem.” Jack explained. “It’s his leg. All the blood is pooling there. He sure didn’t get this injury from a fall. Something crushed his leg.” 

Sun smartly tore the transfusion tube from Jack’s arm, stopping the blood. Lena really had to give Sun credit. That woman was very intelligent. 

“You’ve given him enough.” Sun stated, and while Jack protested, he seemed to know that what Sun said was true. 

“We can take care of it, Jack.” Lena said. “Go get some fresh air.” Jack nodded gratefully and stepped out of the tent, leaving Lena and Sun with the bleeding Boone. 

When Jack returned, Michael was with him, and he seemed to have a plan.

“What are you doing?” Sun asked worriedly.

“His right leg is filling with blood.” Jack said. “If I don’t stop it, he’ll die. I won’t be able to save him.” Lena’s eyes went past Jack and saw a cargo container just behind Michael.

“Jack, you can’t-“ She started to say.

“The leg is dead.” Jack said, cutting a log in half with the door. And that was exactly what he wanted to do to Boone’s leg. “There’s no other choice.” 

Lena and Sun exchanged a horrified glance as Jack and Michael moved Boone to the cargo door.

“Jack.” Sun started to say. “Jack! Why are you doing this? He’s bleeding internally, you’re not helping him! You can’t save him, Jack!”

“Don’t tell me what I can’t do!” Jack shouted. Michael backed away quickly, his part being fulfilled. 

“Jack.” Lena whispered softly. “Don’t do this.” Sun gently pulled Lena’s arm, communicating without words that this was Jack’s decision. 

From afar, Lena could see Boone talking to Jack weakly, hopefully talking him out of this crazy plan. And, while doing that, signing his own death warrant.

Lena let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding as Jack moved Boone near the water, giving him the best final moment he could.

And when Boone’s eyes closed, it was for the last time.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Mentions of suicide

Lena didn’t know why she was so upset by Boone’s death. She didn’t know him very well. In fact, they only spoke a few times. And yet, something about it was so… awful. 

Maybe the fact that just as a life was lost, another one came into the world. That life being Claire’s baby, which Kate had successfully delivered. 

Claire held the baby now, as Boone was lowered into the grave that Lena had helped to dig. Shannon, who had finally turned up, was devastated over the loss of her brother.

“Shannon?” Jack asked once Boone’s body was secure. “Do you want to say something?”

“No.” Shannon whispered. There was a long, slightly awkward silence as no one said anything. It felt wrong, that no one was speaking about him, no one remembering him.

“I didn’t know Boone very well.” Sayid said, breaking the silence. “And for that, I am sorry. On our sixth day here, a woman named Johanna drowned. And Boone was the first one into the water. I don’t know him, but I remember his courage. And I know he will be missed.”

Lena had to admit, Sayid gave a pretty good speech. But she still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

“It was my fault.”

And there stood John Locke, his skin and clothes still stained red from Boone’s blood.

“We found a plane in the jungle. It was lodged in the canopy. Boone went up, and there was a radio inside, so he thought he could… but his weight must have shifted, and the plane fell.”  
“Where were you?” Jack growled, moving towards Locke. “Where the hell were you, you son of a bitch!” Jack ran at Locke and tackled him to the ground. Jack, who was still weak from the blood transfusion, was beating up Locke on the ground before Sawyer and Sayid managed to pull him away.

 _Well, when Sawyer is pulling you back from a fight, you know you need to calm down,_ Lena mentally commented. 

“Where were you?!” Jack screamed. “You lied! You left him to die! Where were you?!”

“Jack, calm down.” Lena said, holding her hands out in front of her. He was still shouting at Locke, and getting visibly paler. 

“Jack!” Kate exclaimed as he collapsed to the ground, completely drained of energy.

“Someone get some god damn water!” Sawyer shouted. Charlie listened and ran off to get a water bottle. He was back in just a minute, but Jack was already recovering.

“He’s lying.” Jack said as he stood up.

“You’re suffering from fatigue.” Sayid countered. 

“Locke told Boone not to tell.” Jack added. “Something about a hatch. Locke is hiding something.”

“Jack, listen to me.” Sayid said, somehow calm. “What we need is for the only doctor on the island to get some sleep.”

“I’m fine.” Jack said.

“You’re fine?” Lena echoed. “I’ll be sure to put that on your gravestone: ‘He said he was fine. He was not.’”

 _And there I go again with the sarcasm,_ Lena thought. It really was her way of coping with everything.

“Jack, they’re right.” Kate said. “You need rest.” 

…

Lena ended up taking a nap.

While she didn’t give blood, she was still exhausted, and needed sleep. So she was quite annoyed when Sayid shook her awake.

“Lena.” He said urgently. “Lena, wake up!”

“What’s happening?” Lena said groggily as she tried to sit up. Her eyes widened Sayid’s frantic expression.

“Shannon’s going to try and kill Locke.” He explained.

“She _what_?!” Lena shouted, sitting bolt upright. “Didn’t you try to stop her?”

“Of course I did!” Sayid replied. “And I’ll go after her now. But I figure if things get messy, you could help.” Lena nodded after just a moment’s hesitation. While doing that, she mentally noted that everyone came to her with problems that could possibly involve a fight. She _did_ have a sword, but still. 

From the other side of the caves, Jack and Kate’s conversation became audible, but it was the last sentence that Lena noticed.

“Locke took the key.” He heard Jack say. “He’s going after the guns.” Lena and Sayid glanced at each other for just a moment before going over to the other two.

“Jack.” Sayid said, drawing both Jack and Kate’s attention. “It wasn’t Locke.” 

…

_“I’m getting really worried.” Lena said, biting her nails, an old habit which she swore she would stop but never did. “He’s been so… distant and tired lately. And anytime I try to help him, he pushes me away.”_

_“I’m sure everything is fine.” Annie reassured her. The two friends were in Annie’s apartment, and Lena was expressing her concerns._

_“I just think-“ Lena was cut off by her phone ringing. It was a rather cheap phone, but it was the only one she had. She picked it up, not recognizing the number._

_“Is this Lena Ashford?” Asked a cool female voice._

_“Yes.” Lena said. “Who is this?”_

_“This is Cedars Sinai Hospital.” The voice answered. “You were listed as an emergency contact for Joseph Hale.”_

_“What happened?” Lena exclaimed. “Is he alright?”_

_“I’m sorry, Miss Ashford.” The woman said. “Joseph jumped off a bridge. He killed himself.”_

…

Sayid took the lead as they sprinted through the jungle, thankfully finding Shannon thanks to Kate’s tracking skills.

The sight that awaited them was not a good one. Shannon, holding a gun on Locke, who didn’t seem concerned at all.

“Shannon, listen to me!” Sayid said.

“He did it!” Shannon shouted. “I know it!”

“You’re not thinking rationally.” Sayid reasoned. “You’ve never even fired a gun before. You don’t want to do this, Shannon.”

“Yes I do!” Shannon yelled. “What did you do to him, you-“  
“I told you it was an accident.” Locke said calmly.

“Shannon-“  
Sayid tackled her to the ground just as she fired the gun. The bullet grazed Locke, but he wasn’t seriously wounded. Lena could only stare at the scene before her. Who would have thought that it would come to something like this?

“I’m sorry.” Sayid whispered.

“Don’t.” Shannon spat. “Get away.” She ran off into the jungle with tears in her eyes.

“Shannon…” Sayid started to go after her, but Lena gently pulled him back as Kate took the job of following the grief-stricken girl.

“Don’t.” Lena said. “Just give her some space.” Sayid reluctantly agreed, but he stared off to where she was, looking more conflicted than Lena had ever seen. 

“You did the right thing, Sayid.” She said. “Shannon would have killed him.” And, deep down, Sayid probably knew that as well. But it didn’t stop him from feeling guilty.

Lena, for one, knew all about guilt.


	16. Chapter 16

“Sure, you can absolutely wait a few months before you launch. I was just assuming you didn’t want to die.”

Lena had just been helping out at the raft when one of the survivors started talking about how they had to launch now. She was pretty sure his name was Arzt.

“So when can we launch?” Michael asked, annoyed.

“3, maybe 4 months.” Arzt replied.

“Come on, even a weather man on TV doesn’t know what’ll happen.” Sawyer complain. “Why the hell are we listening to Arzt?”

“Because I’m a doctor, and you’re a hillbilly.” Arzt retorted. Lena almost laughed, but she refrained. 

“You’re a damn high school science teacher.”

“Sawyer, just let the guy talk.” Jack intervened. Arzt, instead of even acknowledging Jack, continued on obnoxiously. 

“It’s been raining every afternoon.” He said. “You know what that means? Monsoon season, which is bad. Now, the winds are blowing north, and that’s where you want to be?”  
“And?” Lena asked, very irritated with him.

“It means that when monsoon season hits, the winds will shift to the south.” Arzt explained. “The raft goes with the wind. Can anyone tell me what is the only piece of land that is south of us?” 

_He’s acting like we’re all high school students,_ Lena thought. 

“Antarctica.” Jack answered.

“That’s right, Jack, Antarctica.” Arzt said. “And I don’t think you all want to end up there.”

“So when do we have to leave?” Michael asked. 

“Yesterday.” 

…

Michael, Jack, and the others made plans for the raft to set sail tomorrow. Michael assured everyone that he could have it ready by then, and Lena sure hoped so. She did not want to be stuck on this island any longer. 

There was just one slight problem: the fourth spot on the raft. Kate and Sawyer had been fighting over it all day.

And now, it seemed, was the climax.

Sawyer grabbed Kate’s backpack as a large crowd started to gather around the two of them. Lena joined, her hand placed on her sword just in case.

“Look at this!” Sawyer yelled, dumping out the bag’s contents.

“Sawyer, please.” Kate whispered. Lena moved forward to stop him, but them something held her back. 

_This is between them._

“You all remember Johanna, don’t you? The woman who drowned?” Sawyer said, holding up a passport. “Now, what’s Kate doing with poor Johanna’s ID? Could it be she'd do just about anything to get on that raft? So she could get herself rescued, run off with a new identity before half the reporters in the world descend on this damn island? She might even poison the captain himself.”

“Shut up!” Kate shouted, but Sawyer wasn’t finished. 

“She doesn’t care about nothing or nobody but herself.” Sawyer continued. Lena mentally objected. If anyone only cared about themselves, it was Sawyer. She was about to say this when-

“Tell us the truth, Kate.” Sawyer said.

“Yes, okay!” Kate exclaimed. “I was on the plane, with the Marshal. Yes, I was wanted and caught and being transported back. Not matter what I say about what happened, I’m going to jail. But Michael, I didn’t poison you.”  
Kate? A criminal?

But the more Lena thought about it, the more it made sense. The way she never, ever talked about her past, and how she always seemed so tense and prepared to run. 

Always ready to run.

…

“Hey.” Lena said, sitting down next to Kate. It was nighttime now, and she was sitting by the fire. Sawyer had gotten the spot on the raft.

“Hey yourself.” Kate replied. “I’m surprised you’re even here. Most people are avoiding me as much as they can.” 

“Yeah, well I won’t.” Lena said. “Everyone has their secrets Kate, something to hide. Yours just happened to be revealed.”

“Honestly, I’m glad it was.” Kate said. “I hated having to lie to everyone.” Lena didn’t say anything, just stared into the rising flames, lighting up the night sky.

…

_“Thank you for coming, Miss Ashford.” The lawyer said as he sat down. “I know how hard this must be for you.”_

_Lena only nodded. She was there because of Joseph’s suicide note. Apparently, he had made one request and it was for her._

_“I’m sorry, but I will have to read the note out loud.” He said. “It is standard procedure.”_

_“That’s alright.” Lena whispered. The lawyer unfolded the letter and cleared his throat._

_“‘Lena. I’m sorry I’m leaving you, but I have to do this. Just don’t forget me, okay. And take my name. That way you’ll always have a piece of me. Goodbye, Jospeh.’” The lawyer read. Lena felt tears stinging her eyes, but she made no effort to wipe him away._

_“Can I do that?” Lena asked. “Take his name?”_

_“That’s why I’m here, Miss Ashford.” The lawyer said. “I can make it legal. If you would like to change your surname to Hale, that would be the most common response.”_

_Lena thought about it. She wanted to honor Joseph’s wishes, but she didn’t want to change her last name, either. She couldn’t dishonor her mother._

_“I will make Hale my middle name.” Lena decided. “I don’t have one, anyways.”  
“I thought you might do that.” The lawyer said, pulling out a sheet of paper. “All you need to do is sign here.” He handed Lena a pen, and she took it. After only a millisecond of hesitation, she signed the paper._

_She was now Lena Hale Ashford._

…

“Damn, you are a really heavy sleeper.”

Those, and the not-so-gentle shaking of her arm was what woke Lena up. She was greeted by Kate standing over her, being the one who caused Lena’s sleep to end.

“Kate whatever-your-last-name-is, how dare you wake me up.” Lena muttered tiredly.

“The French woman is here.”

And just like that, Lena was wide awake.

“What do you mean?!” Lena demanded. “She just walked into our camp?” Kate nodded, and Lena followed her gaze to see that, in fact, who she assumed was the French woman was standing in the middle of the beach, surrounded by the other survivors.

Lena ran over, with Kate not too far behind. Sayid was the only one who dared to get close to the woman with the shotgun.

“Danielle?” Sayid said softly. “What are you doing here.” Danielle. That must have been her first name. _Danielle Rousseau._

“The Others are coming.” Danielle replied sharply.

“Others?” Sayid asked. “What do you mean? What Others?”

“Our ship crashed on this island 16 years ago.” Danielle began. _Oh great, a history lesson._ “There were 6 of us. At the time, I was 7 months pregnant. I delivered the infant myself. We were only together for 1 week when I saw a pillar of black smoke 5 kilometers inland. That night, they came and took her. Alex. They took my baby. And now they’re coming again, for all of you.”

“ _Who_ is coming?” Jack asked in a slightly irritated tone. Lena agreed with him on this one. Danielle had given a very vague explanation. 

“The Others.” Danielle repeated. “You only have 3 choices: Run, hide, or die.”


	17. Chapter 17

Lena was skeptical of Danielle’s story until the black smoke appeared, just as she had described it. A giant column of it, standing out against the blue sky. It sent fear coursing through Lena, and she wasn’t someone who was scared easily

“How many of them are there?” Jack asked Rousseau, who seemed slightly smug that she was right.

“I told you all I know.” She replied.

“There has to be more than you told us.” Sayid countered. “How did you know?”

“You have a bigger problem.” Danielle said, changing the subject. A little suspicious, but Lena ignored that to hear what the bigger problem was. “I can vanish into the jungle, but I’m just one person. You have 40 people. Where will you hide them?”

Jack and Sayid glanced at each other, clearly both thinking the same thing, and Lena had no idea what that was.

“What?” She asked.

…

_Holy shit._

“Whoa.” Was all Lena said out loud. It was all she could say as she stared down at the giant hatch in the ground. This was what Locke and Boone had been working on all that time. And that hatch was the reason Boone died.

“What is this?” Danielle asked.

“We were hoping you could tell us.” Jack sighed. Clearly his plan relied partially on that.

“I have never seen anything like it.” Danielle replied.

“Um, question.” Hurley piped up. He seemed to be just as shocked as Danielle and Lena, meaning he didn’t know about it either. “How do we know we can all fit in there?”

“No handle on the outside, means there’s another way in.” Locke explained. Glancing at him, Lena wondered how he managed to keep it a secret the whole time. And how the hell had Boone of all people managed to keep it a secret? “Another entrance means space.”

“This is a mistake.” Sayid said. “We don’t know anything about these Others. We're reacting with no information, no intelligence. This hatch might even be theirs. Black smoke on the horizon doesn't mean they're-“

“It means they’re coming!” Danielle exclaimed.

“Yeah, we got that.” Lena muttered, prompting the French woman to glare at her.

“You booby-trapped your shelter with explosives.” Locke began. “You have any more?” _Smart, Locke._

“Dynamite, at the Black Rock.” Danielle said. “In the dark territory.”

“That sounds like a lovely place.” Lena commented sarcastically.

“If we’re to make it back by sunset, we have to leave within the hour.” Danielle added. Lena glanced at Jack, but she couldn’t read his expression. Using the dynamite - and going to the Black Rock, whatever that was - didn’t seem like the best idea.

But it was the only one they had.

…

They had gone back to the beach before going to get the dynamite so Jack could tell everyone the plan.

By the time they were about to leave, there were two new additions to the group. Kate, who could be helpful, and Arzt, not so helpful but apparently a dynamite expert. Sayid, meanwhile, had stayed behind to get everyone to safety and make sure the raft got out in time.

So, there they were, walking through the jungle to get dynamite so they could blow up a hatch and hide from enemies that were signaling their approach with black smoke.

 _You couldn’t have made this up, not even in your craziest dreams,_ Lena told herself, kind of as a reminder that it was all real. 

“La Territoire Fonce.” Danielle announced as she stopped walking, causing the rest of the group to stop as well.

“The Dark Territory.” Jack translated, although it wasn’t really necessary. Even if Danielle hadn’t identified it, Lena would have known all the same. Something about that area was pure evil.

“The Black Rock is not far.” Danielle said. “This is where is all began. Where my team got infected, where Montand lost his arm. We must move quickly.”

“You know what?” Arzt said quickly. “I’m going back.“

“Hey, I thought you wanted to help.” Jack said.

“Yeah, I wanted to help, but that was before Montand lost his freaking arm.” Arzt replied, backing away from the Dark Territory as fast as he could and running away. “Just be careful with the dynamite!”

Lena sighed, and Jack looked annoyed, but the group continued forward into the Dark Territory. A cold feeling settled over Lena as it started to rain, and her hand curled around her sword.

There was something about her sword that made it feel like more than just a weapon. It was almost as if the blade was a part of her, moving in perfect sync with her mind. She couldn’t bear the thought of someone taking it away from her.

 _Congratulations, Lena,_ she thought. _You have become emotionally attached to a sword._

“RUN!” A voice shouted, interrupting both Lena’s sarcastic and sentimental thoughts. With the voice came a loud noise, a noise Lena identified with the monster.

The person shouting was Arzt, who was currently running towards them. No, running from something.

Lena ran as fast as her feet could carry her, hearing the pounding in her ears as she ran. Danielle, who had been just ahead, motioned for her and the others to follow her into a bamboo stand.

Lena obliged not seeing any other idea. She slid into the bamboo, along with Jack and Kate.

As the noises died down, the rain stopped as well, and Danielle visibly relaxed.

“We’re safe now.” She whispered. 

“What the hell was that thing?” Kate asked, her knees tucked to her chest.

“It’s a security system.” Danielle replied. That’s a hell of a security system, then, Lena thought. Then again, Danielle did blow up her own shelter, another crazy security system.

“Security system?” Jack echoed. “What is is guarding?”

“It’s protecting the island.” 

_From what?_

At that moment, Locke and Hurley walked over. Lena sighed in relief at seeing the two of them alive, and they seemed to be unharmed as well.

“Uh, where’s Arnzt?” Hurley asked.

“It’s Arzt, you idiot.” Arzt chided as he walked into the cleaning. Still as obnoxious and annoying as always.  
“Dude, I thought you were dead!” Hurley exclaimed. 

“Can we just go get the dynamite?” Arzt said dismissively. “This place gives me the creeps.” 

…

They kept going through the Dark Territory, until Danielle suddenly stopped, gazing out at something.

“Why are we stopping?” Locke asked.

“Because we’re here.” Danielle replied. Lena followed her gaze and was utterly shocked by what she saw. She had been thinking that the Black Rock was a literal black rock. But that was not what stood in front of her.

The Black Rock was a pirate ship.


	18. Chapter 18

“How exactly did something like this happen?” Hurley asked, breaking the shocked silence. He was right. How had a ship like that gotten into the jungle?

“Are you on the same island as I am?” Danielle replied.

“Fair point.” Lena commented. The ship was majestic, with the words ‘Black Rock’ engraved in gold. She could tell that this ship had a story, and she was very curious as to what it was.

“Hey, where are you going?” Jack asked, snapping Lena out of her thoughts. She turned to see Danielle walking towards the jungle.

“Explosives are in the hold of the ship.” Danielle called out as she left. “I did what you asked. You need dynamite, you don’t need me.” Jack started to go after her, but Locke held him back.

“Let her go, Jack.”

“Who’s going to lead us back?” Jack asked. 

“I will.” Locke replied. “You heard her, explosives are in the hold. Let’s go.”

“Whoa, hold on.” Arzt said nervously. “I came here to tell you how to handle dynamite, not explore some ghost ship, you think I'm go-“

“Alright, just stay out here?” Jack interrupted in an annoyed tone. 

“Uh, I’m going to stay here with Arnzt.” Hurley added.

“Yeah… me too.” Lena said with a slight shiver. As interesting as the ship looked, she didn’t actually want to go in it. 

Kate, Jack, and Locke all went inside the Black Rock, while Arzt started ranting about something to Hurley. Lena wandered a few feet into the jungle, wanting to catch her breath for a moment. 

A few minutes later, Kate stepped out of the ship, followed by Jack and Locke, who were carrying a case of what Lena assumed was the dynamite. 

“What the hell are you people doing?!” Arzt shouted. “Stop right where you are! Alright, put that down carefully. Damn it, gently. Alright, now back away. Get away from it!”

“What are you doing?” Lena asked. 

“Shush!” Arzt said. “Do any of you have any idea what happens to dynamite in 90+ degree heat? Any of you? It sweats nitroglycerin.” He removed a stick of dynamite to show them and, sure enough, there was some kind of substance on it. “Dynamite is nitroglycerin stabilized by clay. Nitroglycerin is the most dangerous and unstable explosive known to man. Any of you ever hear about the guy who invented nitroglycerin? Probably not, because he blew his freaking face off. So we're not going to take any more of this stuff than we need because nitroglycerin is extremely temperamental, so we-“

And then Leslie Arzt exploded.

…

_Lena wanted to get out of Australia as fast as possible. Unfortunately, the next flight to Los Angeles wasn’t for a few hours, which left Lena to kill some time in the airport._

_She hadn’t been planning on leaving this soon, and as a result, she had nothing to do. Not only that, she had nothing to do during the sixteen hour flight to LA._

_Lena decided to buy some food, but, considering the mood she was in, she ended up getting a bag of salt and vinegar chips._

_“This’ll be a great flight.” She muttered sarcastically. For a moment, it crossed her mind to go back to Marie’s house, apologize, and help her sister out._

_But that thought was short lived._

…

Lena ran into the jungle and puked multiple times.

It wasn’t the fact that Arzt blew up, but the fact that the pieces of him landed on her and the others was both unsettling and disgusting. Sure, the guy was annoying, but he didn’t deserve to die.

Back at the Black Rock, Jack and Locke were very slowly taking care of the dynamite. Lena, who wasn’t religious, was praying that nothing else - no one else - exploded.

“I think we should split them up.” Locke commented. “The sticks, I mean. We need three sticks to blow the hinge, so one other person should take three as well. Just in case.” 

“You and me, then.” Jack sighed.

“No, I’m taking one.” Kate protested, standing up from a log she had benefitting on.

“Absolutely not.” Jack replied.

“This is why I came.” Kate argued. 

“I should take one.” Lena added. “The other survivors need you guys. The doctor, the hunter, the tracker. I’m just the girl with the sword.”

“Neither of you are taking one.” Jack said.

“It’s not your decision.” Kate countered, getting angrier with all of Jack’s words.

“We’ll draw straws.” Locke decided. “We don’t have tie to argue over who gets to risk their life, so we’ll let fate decide.” _Fate_. Lena didn’t really believe in it, but it was the only option. What she said was true: the other three were needed. She was not.

“Works for me.” Kate commented.

“What about you.” Jack asked Hurley. Hurley, who had been sitting on the ground and staring at the spot where Arzt had been standing, looked up at Jack. “What?”

“You have some… Arnzt on you.” Hurley said, once again pronouncing the man’s name wrong as he pointed to a spot on Jack’s back. Sure enough a little bit of what had been Arzt was stuck to his shirt.

Jack shook off the little flake, shivering a bit as he did so. Lena couldn’t blame him. The whole thing was very disturbing.

“Short sticks carry the packs.” Locke said, holding out four sticks in his fists. Lena drew one first, and she could already tell that it was one of the long ones. So much for her plan.  
Kate drew a medium sized stick, and Jack drew an even longer one than Lena’s. Locke held out his palm, and the results became evident.

“Looks like it’s you and me, Kate.” Locke said. 

… 

“Ready?” Lena asked after Locke and Kate had carefully and successfully put their backpacks full of dynamite on. Kate nodded quickly. As much as she tried to hide it, lena could tell she was a little scared.

“We should keep a safe distance from each other.” Locke said. 

“Alright.” Jack agreed. “If anyone hears or sees anything, take off your packs, put them down, and run. Got it?” Kate nodded again, and Locke simply tipped his head.

“Let’s do this., then”

The walk through the jungle and back to the hatch was an odd one. It might have been the most tense moment of Lena’s life as Locke and Kate carried the dynamite on their backs. 

And then they heard it: _Tick-tick-tick-tick._

“Oh you have got to be kidding me.” Lena complained. The monster, the ‘security system’ had arrived.”

Suddenly, Locke put his pack down and, instead of running away like any rational person would do, he ran towards the monster. 

“Locke!” Jack yelled, but he was already too far gone. Jack and Kate exchanged a quick glance before running after him, dynamite be damned.

“Dude, run!” Hurley yelled as he sprinted as far away as possible. Lena drew her sword, the silver and gold patters glistening in the sunlight. But she wasn’t a tracker. It was impossible to tell which way they had gone. 

Just when she was about to give up hope, the three of them came back, Locke limping slightly, Kate looking slightly betrayed, and Jack looking annoyed, as per usual.

“Are you guys okay?” Lena asked, tucking her sword back into the sheath.

“Everything’s fine.” Locke confirmed. “Where’s Hugo?” 

_Who the hell is Hugo?_

“I’m right here.” Hurley said as he stepped out from the trees. Lena guessed that Hugo was his real name, and Hurley was just a nickname. Either that, or Locke was just really bad with names.

“We should keep going.” Jack said. “We have to make it back to the hatch.” 

…

“So what happened back there?” Lena asked Kate as they continued on their journey. Despite their best efforts, it had gotten dark, and the group was now relying on torchlight, and the few flashlights.

“The monster… it was smoke.” Kate said. “Just black smoke, and it dragged Locke to this hole. We had to use a stick of dynamite to save him.”

“Black smoke?” Lena echoed. “Maybe these Others have something to do with it. That’s their thing, right?”

“Maybe.” Kate said skeptically. 

“We’re here.” Locke announced from ahead of them. Kate and Lena quickened their pace, and soon they were at the hatch, which looked even more eerie at night.

“Hugo, take these extra sticks back a few yards.” Locke said, carefully handing the remaining dynamite sticks to Hurley. He quickly exchanged his torch for a flashlight and walked back into the jungle with the dynamite in hand.

“Kate, Lena, run the fuse.” Locke instructed. “Jack and I will rig the charges.” The remaining three nodded, and they got to work. Lena tied the fuse down near where Locke and Jack were setting up, and Kate pulled it back as far as it would go.

Once everything was in place, Jack attached the dynamite and the fuse. Lena flinched as the two came together, almost as if she was expecting it to explode. But the suspense was false, and nothing happened.

“I’ll light it.” Locke decided. “You three take cover, there will be enough burn time for me to get clear.” 

“Hurley!” Jack called out into the jungle.

“Just a second!” Came the reply. While waiting, Lena decided to find a good spot to take cover from the explosion, and ended up in a little nook in between two trees.

She held on to her sword, and it already made her feel better, like she was holding the hand of a loved one. 

“No, no stop!” It was Hurley, running towards the hatch like a madman. What the hell had gotten into him? “We can’t do this! Don’t light it. The numbers are bad!” 

Locke, however, paid no attention to Hurley’s ranting and lit the fuse. Hurley let out a loud gasp as he ran over to Locke and tried to stop the fuse from going to the dynamite, but it was too late. 

“The numbers are bad! The numbers are bad!”

“Get down!” Lena yelled as the fuse neared the hatch. Jack jumped out of his spot and tackled Hurley to the ground, just as the fuse reached the end.

Brightness filled Lena’s eyes as the door to the hatch exploded.

…

_Lena shoved her bag into the overhead compartment. The third time was always the charm, and that was true in this case as well._

_Once her bag was safely stowed, she sat down in her assigned seat._

_Lena glanced around the plane. She hated being confined in small spaces, but she didn’t really have a choice._

_Flying in general scared her a little. She was worried that she might crash and die, and no one would ever know she was there. She had, after all, just alienated the only person in the world who cared about her._

_Because everyone else was dead._

_Lena’s morbid thoughts came to an abrupt stop as the plane started to move. She gripped the armrests of her seat tightly, but takeoff went very smoothly._

_They were in the air._

…

Lena uncovered her eyes as the smoke cleared. She ignored the other four as she ran down to the hatch. She could see the door lying on the ground, meaning that they had been successful in blowing it up.

Jack, Locke, Kate, and Hurley also came over to the hatch, and all five of them hesitated for a moment, as if they were scared to see what was in there.

Locke was the first one to snap himself from the daze. He knelt down next to the entrance and held up his torch. Lena and the others peered over his shoulder to see what was there.

Behind the hatch door was a long, narrow passageway. There was a broken ladder going down the side. Lena couldn’t even see the bottom.

And yet, somehow she knew: That hatch led to answers. But even more importantly, it could lead to survival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that's the last chapter of the first book! Now, there has been a slight change of plans as to the remaining books in the series. Instead of one for each season, the second book will cover seasons 2 and 3, and the third book will cover seasons 4, 5, and 6. The second book is called Uncharted, and will be posted this Friday, so keep an eye out for that (the same update schedule will continue). Finally, thank you all for continuing to read, give kudos, and comment, and I will see you on Friday with the next book. (Update: Uncharted has been posted, enjoy!)


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